


White Queen to Black Knight

by CavalierQueen



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: F/M, Politics, Vigilantism, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-06
Updated: 2010-09-06
Packaged: 2017-10-11 12:31:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 51,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/112433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavalierQueen/pseuds/CavalierQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce reconnects with long lost friend from childhood. She has covered the same journey and more that Bruce/Batman has. She has been sent to save Bruce/Batman from himself. Strong sexual tension and eventual strong sex. Relationship oriented.1yrpostDK<br/>Batman Begins/Dark Knight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 19 - Words: 54,158 - Reviews: 29 - Updated: 2-6-09 - Published: 1-23-09 - Bruce W./Batman & Joker - Complete</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Queen to Black Knight

Title: **White Queen to Black Knight**  
Category: Movies » Batman Begins/Dark Knight  
Author: CavalierQueen  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M  
Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort  
Published: 01-23-09, Updated: 02-06-09  
Chapters: 19, Words: 54,158

  


* * *

**Chapter 1: Chapter 1**

* * *

A/N:This story takes place 1 yr. after Dark Knight ends. It is not cannon, but does adhere to most of what I remember from most of the movies. What you recognize belongs to DC comics and whoever made the movie. Song lyrics belong to the indicated author. What you don't recognize is mine, as is the story line. R&amp;R.

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 1**

_So sad her eyes_

_Smiling dark eyes_

_So sad her eyes_

_As it began_

_White Queen, Queen_

The red head arrived on the huge circular driveway covered in tiny granite pebbles. She stared up at the gigantic mansion, smiling that Bruce had rebuilt it exactly the same as it was before when she played here as a girl and hung out here as a teenager. She opened her red Lamborghini Murcielago LP64 and gracefully stepped out, her expensive high heels grinding on the pebbled driveway. She had dressed for her reunion with Alfred and Bruce wearing a crème colored Prada dress with matching jacket that fell the length of the dress. Other than her family heirloom pearls, she wore no jewelry. Her natural red tinted auburn hair fell almost to her waist in thick waves. Anything more would be overkill, and she didn't need to prove herself to anyone, even Bruce Wayne after all these years. She closed the doors to the car before she walked away, smiling to herself as the landscapers mouths were hanging open, unsure and uncaring if it was because of her or her car.

She walked up the huge half circle steps and rang the conspicuous doorbell. She had not been back to Gotham since she left after high school and she was saddened by how far it had fallen from the great city it had been when her parents were alive. Like Bruce, she was an orphan, but only once she entered high school. Alfred became a surrogate father to her. Rachel was the only one who had a normal family life. They were not rich, her parents were still married to each other, and other than her extraordinarily rich friends, she was a very normal child. She had heard of Rachel's death months afterwards, and knew Bruce would be terribly broken up by it. While the three of them hung out together a lot, Rachel was always his favorite. Alina was more of a loner, and that lone wolf life had led her far and wide only to return home to find her city a violent and turbulent mess.

She stopped her musings as she heard distinguished footsteps approaching the door. She could only hope that Alfred, and Bruce for that matter, remembered her. They were her only links to the city she used to call home. Alfred, looking exactly the same as she remembered him opened the door with a curious yet distinguished look on his face. As he looked her over and caught side of the amazing red hair flaming in the sunlight, he beamed and reached out for her. Alina came into his arms, glad of his welcome and feeling like she had come home. Alfred looked briefly at her car and laughed.

"What Alfred?"

"Alina, you are about as subtle as Mr. Wayne. He is not here by the way, but should return shortly. I think he will find your choice of car as amusing as I do. You will understand later I am sure. Can I invite you to join me for tea my dear? We have so much to catch up on. Can I take your jacket, or is that part of the whole ensemble?"

"It is fairly warm. The jacket is just part of the outfit. You can take it please. Just be sure I don't forget it!" She slipped out of her jacket and Alfred swallowed hard at what was left. Her dress while slightly dipped in the front to accommodate her collar bone the back was cut deeply in the back to the point of distraction at best. There was a strap that went from one side to the other. He supposed to keep the dress from falling off altogether. Against her tanned body and the red hair, she was damned near the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Alina smirked at Alfred. "Should I hang my coat up while you recover yourself or get our tea?"

He realized he had been caught in her trap just as she had intended, smirked back at her laughing, "Why don't you get our tea started while I hang your jacket. I suppose even an old man like me can recover from your little surprise. You know where everything is. Nothing has changed."

"Very good. Earl Grey?"

"Yes, m'am."

Soon they were sitting in the kitchen, the most comfortable room in the house. And if a house had a heart, this had always been it. They sat at a gorgeous rough mahogany table top sipping Earl Grey tea. "So what happened to the red haired tomboy that used to hang around here all the time? You wore exclusively jeans and t-shirts, usually offensive, and tank tops. And you were still the most sought after girl around."

"By everyone except Bruce Wayne. Let's just say she grew up and became a different person. I still wear jeans and tank tops, the lower the better, occasionally. I still try to cause a great distraction, unless I don't want to be seen. If I don't wish to be seen, I'm not. I have traveled the world, seen everything, done everything, and now I have come home. This is really the only home I remember, you are the only parent I remember, and Bruce and Rachel the only friends I remember. So here I am."

Bruce pushed through the swinging doors into the kitchen already talking…"the hell has a red car like mine in the…Alina?"

She smiled shyly at him. "I guess that was what Alfred found so amusing about my car. You have one too." She stood up and walked slowly towards him. She knew most would imagine her to be a goddess, but she also knew Bruce had never thought of her as even beautiful as her name declared her. Even so he was speechless as she approached with her arms tentatively held out for a long awaited hug. He easily took her in his arms, smelling how wonderful, how sensual she smelled, and then his hands touched the flesh of her finely toned and obviously strong back. He gently stroked the soft exposed skin and then released Alina.

"You left after prom. Where did you go? Where have you been? It's been ten years. Don't tell me you came back for some kind of reunion."

Alina turned away from Bruce and retook her place at the table. He watched her skin ripple under her muscles and her hair move as she walked. It was hypnotizing. "Surely you don't remember me as the type to come back for a class reunion? I didn't go to prom and instead went to a school in Switzerland, a special school to teach special skills. I went to Oxford for a while. Since then, I traveled the world. I've been everywhere, done everything. Now, I take pictures mostly."

"National Geographic, Life, Discovery, even Vanity Fair which I thought was odd for your stuff, but I didn't know it was you. The pictures were just signed by A. Witter. I never put it together." He sat down in a chair beside her, slumped with his fingers drumming an unconscious beat.

"And you are here to take pictures? Of what? Gotham is a mess."

"So I heard. I heard about Rachel and I'm sorry Bruce. I know how close you two were. I heard about the mansion being burnt to the ground and your determination to rebuild, which from what I have seen you did spectacularly. I heard about the DA Harvey Dent who was the White Knight to the crime in the city. He took down so many before he himself was taken down. I heard about how the maniac that called himself the Joker tore the city to shreds before Batman finally caught him and he ended up in Arkham."

"You have been keeping up. How did so much information travel to you?"

"I am fantastically wealthy too Bruce. I can get information anywhere. Often there is a time lag, sometimes a large one. I came as soon as I heard about Rachel, but by then it had been almost a year."

"Would you like to go with me tomorrow to see her grave? She would want to hear you once again."

"That would be nice. In the afternoon I have a meeting with Commissioner Gordon. What do you know of him?"

"Why?"

"Well Bruce, let me think. I'm back in town. After you I am the wealthiest person, within hundreds of miles. I need to know if he is trustworthy. I'm doing a piece for Vanity Fair on the faces of good and evil. I'm even writing the article which is new to me, but I've been writing novels for a while, and good and evil is a subject near and dear. If he is not trustworthy, I need to change my plans. Is the entire police force corrupt?"

"To start with, Gordon is probably the only honest person left in Gotham. Truly honest, not just shades of honest. Tell me about this article for Vanity Fair. Who are you planning to use?"

"I've got Ekabala from the Congo (see A/N), Omar El-Bashir, Kim Jong-il, about 10 others, including the most evil criminals, and George Bush and Dick Cheney although they didn't know what they were posing for. I can't wait to write that part of the article! I want to add Harvey Dent and the Joker to my composite. Granted, their damage is only limited to a small area, they may be truly evil, I don't know. But they will certainly make great portraits. Finding people who are honestly trying to do good is more difficult. Barack Obama seems to fall on that list, Batman would certainly be on that list, Bill Gates possibly with his foundation, Bruce Wayne with his. Other than that good becomes harder to find. Corruption runs rampant in the government, at all levels. I think I will have to seek out soldiers who have gone beyond the call, perhaps some of the heroes from Katrina or 9/11. I have pictures if you want to see them and tell me if they should be on the list."

"Why would you put Batman on the list?" Alfred had started cooking dinner, still listening to the conversation.

"Of course he would go on the list. I have no idea how to find him to ask to take his picture though. The man, and he is just a man despite all that fancy stuff he goes out in night after night fighting evil. He continues to believe in the good of people, which honestly after everything I've seen, I no longer believe. And even when he could have killed Harvey Dent or the Joker, he makes it a point to never directly kill another person. That is the sign of good, certainly not evil."

"Would you kill them?"

Alina looked him straight in the eye and paused several long seconds before answering. "Yes, I would have killed them. The Joker, absolutely. Harvey Dent, a somewhat more difficult decision, but yet the answer would still be yes."

"Does that make you evil, Alina?"

"Oh, my Bruce. You have become a much deeper thinker than when you were a kid. You don't just chase beautiful skirts anymore. That is just an act, isn't it? You don't have to answer that until you are ready. As for my propensity for good or evil, I take a practical view of things. Is taking a life evil? Hm, I think it is a relative question. Is the evil I commit by killing the Joker the same, equal to, or less than the evil that the Joker committed by killing hundreds and hundreds of people? How would you answer that question Bruce?"

Bruce watched Alina with surprise and wanting to talk more, but afraid of what he might learn from her, or learn about himself.

"So in your travels, did you travel alone or with bodyguards?"

"Bodyguards? That is a sure fire way to be raped or be held hostage. No, I learned to protect myself."

Alfred was putting the dinner plates in front of them filled with wonderful goodies, but they were so busy outthinking, out philosophizing each other, they didn't notice. Alfred laughed to himself, Alina had turned into exactly the person Bruce needed to help him deal with his conscience, make him a stronger man and a stronger Batman.

Bruce laughed at Alina. "And just how did _you_ learn to protect yourself?" He was dismissive about her abilities which just pissed her off.

"You don't think I can?"

"How?"

"Do you have a shooting range in this unlimited place? What about a dojo? Knives, swords, fencing gear?"

"Yeah. I got all that."

"Good. Day after tomorrow since I'm kinda busy tomorrow… Rachel and then Gordon. Are you going to go with me to both? The next day we'll get sweaty." She used her most seductive, deep and promising voice, knowing the effect it would have.

Bruce drew a deep breath as he felt himself respond to her challenge. No doubt he was aroused and day after tomorrow could not come soon enough. He smiled at her, feeling the challenge, knowing it was so much more than being about weapons. She knew he wanted her, and she wanted him. But she didn't want him for a night, or even a week. She would have him for good.

A/N: Ekebala is a character taken from Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker series. There is more about that in later chapters.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 2**

_On such a breathless night as this_

_Upon my brow the lightest kiss_

_I walked alone_

_And all around the air did say_

_My lady soon will stir this way_

_In sorrow known_

_The white queen walks and the night grows pale_

_Stars of lovingness in her hair_

_White Queen, Queen_

Bruce picked Alina up at the Gotham Towers where she had taken over the Penthouse. They were both dressed in black to honor Rachel and to meet with Gordon. Gordon didn't know Bruce was coming with her, but he assured her that Gordon would be ok. Bruce had to promise not to interfere with setting up her photo shoots.

They walked silently hand in hand to Rachel's gravesite. Bruce stood to the side while Alina talked to her best friend Rachel. They had all three been great friends, and Rachel had been both their friends, although his feelings for Rachel had grown beyond that of friendship. Alina finished her talk with Rachel and stood crying, not sobs but just gentle tears running down her face. Bruce held her closely. This time she wore a Vera Wang black knit dress that wrapped her body tightly and flared from her waist to above her knees. There was no skin to feel this time, but he could still feel her body, her breasts, her tiny waist. He could also feel her strength and power. She was very strong. Maybe he shouldn't have laughed at her yesterday. He might get his butt kicked tomorrow. Wouldn't that be ironic?

She finally pulled away and holding his hand motioned to him that they should continue to the car.

"Gordon's going to be waiting for us soon. Thank you Bruce. I appreciate your support. It's been a long time since I was held by anyone, especially a man."

"Why is that? You are stunning. You are probably the most intelligent woman I've ever known. You are one of the best in your field, photography and novels. Surely you can't be lacking for male companionship."

He opened the door to the car and helped her in even if she didn't need it, he needed to do it anyway. "Do you sleep with every woman you go out with?"

He laughed. "You see right through me don't you? No, I even despise dating them. I care nothing for any of them, and I take none of them to bed with me. And I would guess that is the same for you."

"Yes, but while your female companions are beautiful, perfumed, and clean, the places I have been the men are not known for their hygiene. Even now, back in the states, I came straight here, what I know as home, and there are no other men. I interview maniacs and despots. You are the only mostly normal man I know. So other than you, I would say that yes I am lacking for male companionship."

Bruce looked at her seriously, shook his head and drove them to Gordon's office.

"Hello Commissioner Gordon. My name is Alina Witter. It is a pleasure to meet you. Bruce speaks very highly of you." She had put her body between Gordon and Bruce to be sure she owned the meeting by introducing herself first. She shook his hand with a very firm grip and smiled at Gordon, giving him the smile that made anyone give her what she wanted.

Bruce shook Gordon's hand and they all sat down in the comfortable chairs in his office.

"Commissioner Gordon, I believe you are aware of the work I am doing. I have traveled around the world taking pictures of people considered both good and evil. I would like to take pictures of both the Joker and Harvey Dent. I would also like to take pictures of Batman and I understand you know how to get in touch with him."

"And Batman you would consider good or evil?" Gordon seemed overly protective but didn't want to show it. Given sometimes Batman is the only honest man he can find, Alina supposed that was fair.

"Batman would be considered good, unless he says something while we are talking that would change my mind. But from everything I have heard, I understand that Batman would fall on the good side."

"I don't think I can allow you to interview or take pictures of either the Joker or Harvey Dent. It is entirely too dangerous to you. I doubt they would even talk to you, or make sense if they did."

"I have interviewed and photographed some of the most horrible and cruel men in the world and I assure you I can take care of myself. It is interesting the women don't typically fall at the top of the list, although I believe they can be quite ruthless. I appreciate your concern, but again I am sure that I can protect myself. You can have a guard right outside the door and you and Bruce can watch if you like. I will be perfectly safe."

Bruce spoke up, "I think it is too dangerous Alina. Please do not do this. Do not draw attention to yourself. It will only feed their fantasies and make things more dangerous for you."

"I appreciate your concern Bruce, Commissioner. But really, I can take care of myself. I believe I will be able to prove that to Bruce tomorrow. We have a little challenge going on. If, after our challenge, he is confident that I can defend myself under the conditions we have outlined, do we have a deal?"

"If Bruce believes you can defend yourself against the Joker and Harvey Dent, then I will allow it."

"And pictures of Batman?"

"Let's see how things go tomorrow. I will be honest with you Ms. Witter. I would be surprised if Batman would ever agree to be photographed, even by someone as famous as you."

She smiled at the Commissioner and then looked at Bruce with the small smile as well. "I think you will both learn that I always get what I want. You might as well give it up. Thank you for time Commissioner. I'll call you day after tomorrow to set up a time to take the pictures."

The Commissioner wasn't quite sure what to think, shook her hand, and watched while she walked away.

He looked at Bruce, shook his head, "She is going to be a tough one. Good luck Mr. Wayne."

"Commissioner, you have no idea."

* * *

**Chapter 3: Chapter 3**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 3**

_Needing- unheard_

_Pleading-one word_

_So sad her eyes_

_She cannot see_

_How did thee fare, what have thee seen_

_The mother of the willow green_

_I call her name_

_And 'neath the window have I stayed_

_I loved the footsteps that she made_

_And when she came_

_White queen how my heart did ache_

_And dry my lips no words can make_

_But still I wait_

_White Queen, Queen_

Alina arrived at the Wayne Mansion in her red Lamborghini. She was dressed in her battle clothes, black yoga pants and black sleeveless yoga top perfect for any of the activities that had been planned for the day. She had boots, slippers, and fencing boots in her bag along with her own personal supply of guns and knives. Her hair was braided down her back. She was looking forward to the challenge the day would no doubt provide.

Yesterday after they left the Commissioner's office Bruce drove her to the mansion and they walked around the perimeter. He had designed it to be his own park. Most of the ones in Gotham had been destroyed or taken over by the gangs. Occasionally their hands would touch or he would put his hand behind her back. The tension between the two of them had developed to a pretty strong simmer. After the initial heat from yesterday, things just might get positively steamy.

She pulled her bag from the car and headed for the door where Bruce met her. He smiled at her with almost a predatory gleam in his eye. She laughed at him. "Let's play baby," and shoved her bag into his hands.

"Follow me, beautiful." He took her to an elevator that took them down two levels, surprising her. When they stepped out there was exactly what he had promised her, a huge room with a dojo, shooting range, and a knife area.

"Wow! This is impressive. Where do you want to start?"

"Let's start with guns, go to knives and ninja stars, and finish on the dojo mats."

Alina smirked at him. "And finish on the dojo mats. Ok. Let's play."

"You are just one big distraction, Alina."

Her voice was deep and seductive and made him hard instantly, just as she intended. "Of course I am. It's a strategy baby. I won't win every time, because I think you get a lot more of a workout then I do. But I just have to prove that I can beat the Joker or Harvey Dent, not Batman." She looked at him knowingly.

"Well, then I guess it is a good thing that you are just fighting me and not Batman."

"I suppose so. Let the games begin, baby."

She unpacked her guns, including her special sniper rifle. "What is that?" Bruce asked as she put it together.

"Can you stretch your little shooting range for a mile?"

"You can shoot that from a mile away?"

"I've shot more than that when I needed to. So can you spread this thing out for a mile?"

"Yeah, but let's start with handguns, and work our way up." The sexual tension between the two of them was almost to the point of cutting it. Bruce had on sweats and a t-shirt he was sure to remove when things got hot. But Alina could still see his arousal from their little word play and tension that filled the room.

They took guns, 9mm, locked and loaded them and set up to fire.

"Line is hot!" They put their ear protective gear on and starting to fire. Both of them hit their targets either through the initial hole or immediately around it. Very nice. They changed firearms, and moved the targets back further. Same results. The targets got further and further out and their aim remained the same. Finally it came time for the sniper rifle she had brought. Bruce put a metal target up with a head shape painted on it.

"Can you give me wind?"

"No, you will just have to make the shot straight."

"Oh well. I'll do what I can. It seems too easy. Line is hot!" She fired and hit the head target directly center forehead. Bruce rolled the target up towards them, looking at the hit she had made. He looked at her surprised.

"You have done this before, but on real targets."

"Does that disgust you Bruce? Frighten you? Make you turned on?" She was using that voice again, the one he couldn't resist, the one that makes him hard every time.

"Just because you kill, I don't believe you to be evil. I don't think you have killed indiscriminately, nor would you. So, to the conversation we've been having all along, whoever you killed, if any one, then I'm sure they deserved it. And since you have likely killed, I would consider you to be much more courageous then me since I am reluctant to kill in all cases."

She looked at him seriously, "I believe, even if you want to continue to pretend, that you are one of the most courageous men anywhere." She kept her eyes on Bruce. He didn't even blink but also never broke her eye contact. She then smiled at him slightly, "Knives and stars?"

"Definitely." They put the guns away and then moved on to the knives and ninja star area.

They both threw both knives and ninja stars of varying sizes and hit the targets every time, although Bruce was better at the aiming than Alina. She yielded to him on the knives and stars.

"Dojo?" he asked, his voice deep with emotion and arousal. It was all her scent, her abilities, feeling like he had met his soul mate. Now he was feeling very off center from his usually very serious, very centered persona.

"Some water first, then dojo. Martial arts or grappling?" Alina teased him slightly. The time was certainly approaching the point of put up or shut up.

"Let's start with martial arts and end with grappling."

"Of course. That makes perfect sense. Whenever you are ready, Bruce. And Bruce, don't hold back. If we both don't end up with bruises, we didn't play hard enough." He swallowed hard and cleared his throat before nodding his head in agreement.

They took their positions and started the fighting. They flipped each other, kicked, charged, twisted arms, until finally she ended it with a kick to the groin and her boot on his throat, completely incapacitating Bruce. "So, Bruce, do you think I can handle myself enough to take pictures of the Joker and Harvey Dent? Or do you need more examples of my capabilities?"

She removed her boot from his throat and lay down beside him, smiling.

"Oh my lovely Alina, I think I will definitely need more examples of your capabilities." He flipped her onto her back and pulled his shirtless body over hers, holding himself up by his very strong arms. He went down on his elbows, placing his body directly over hers, his face directly over hers. "Can I kiss you?"

"I think if you don't I'll have to kick your ass, again." She ran her hands down his sweat covered back reaching for his ass, stroking it gently. "And it is such a nice ass, Bruce."

He moaned slightly and then gently brought his lips to hers, tasting the sweetness of her lips and the saltiness of her sweat. He placed more pressure on her lips forcing her to open to him, his tongue invading her mouth, both of them dueling for control and then just sliding into the erotic sensation of their bodies pressed together, their tongues sliding and sucking on each other, their heated centers melting together. He slowly pulled his mouth away from hers but did not move their bodies.

She smiled softly at him, running her hands through his sweaty hair and down his sweaty back. "You know Bruce, I can beat the Joker and Harvey Dent. But I wouldn't have been able to beat Batman."

He rolled off of her and lay breathing hard next to her, his very large erection obvious. "What makes you so sure? You beat me. Why not Batman?"

"Seriously Bruce?" She turned on her side, her elbow holding up her face, her body pressed against him.

"Yeah."

"Batman wears a very large cup to encompass his…" she reached over to stroke his gigantic staff that needed some serious attention and he groaned again, "large gifts. And Batman wears a hood and neck thing that would have made my boot irrelevant. You don't have to tell me, ever if you don't want to. But I know and I would never give up your secret."

She rolled her body on top of his, aligning their painfully heated centers, bringing her lips to his and setting fire to what had been smoldering between them. Bruce pulled her wet top off and over her head, and took her braid, pulling the tie at the end off and quickly unbraiding it so he could bury his sweaty hands in the thick hair he loved so much. It even smelled of the flowers she shampooed her hair with.

After that he flipped her over again, her hair spreading behind her. He yanked off her boots and her black pants that followed. He realized she hadn't worn any underwear or sports bras underneath her clothes. She lay in front of him, auburn red hair spread behind her like some kind of angel and her tanned and naked body there for the taking. She sat up, sitting face to face, looking into his eyes.

"You aren't sure, are you? Your body obviously wants to take me, even ravage me, but your mind is afraid. I know too much. I can read your thoughts. Bruce, I can seduce you, my body is already presenting itself to you. It is wet and swollen and crying out for you. But until you are sure, I will wait. I am not going anywhere." Alina moved from him and gathered her clothes, redressing herself in the sweaty garments she had come in. Bruce just watched her, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do. He just knew he wanted her more than maybe he had wanted anyone, even Rachel. But was it too soon to already be in love? This was a girl, now a woman, a more than capable woman to join his world, that he had known his whole life.

While Bruce had been contemplating his feelings for Alina, she had been casually gathering up her guns, knives, and other items packing them in the bag she had brought. When she had finished, she walked over to where Bruce sat in such confusion. She sat in front of him easily. She stroked his face and smoothed out the lines caused by his confusion. "You're not ready baby, not here (she touched his heart) and not here (she touched his head). I'm already there, but you have to catch up. So, we see each other when you want, we can talk and debate all those things you struggle with as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. And the next time you get my clothes off, you better be ready to follow through." She smirked at him, leaned forward to kiss him and he pulled her to him to deepen the kiss.

"Can you stay? When you are here I feel different, better, things are clearer. You believe in me. I need that. I need someone other than Alfred to believe in me."

"What are you asking me, Bruce? Do you want me to stay for the rest of the afternoon? For the night? For more? And what about my interviews and pictures? Are you going to give that a thumbs up?"

"Move in here. Get out of the hotel and move in here. You can have your own rooms, and then I can see you all the time. And you will be here when I go out at night, and you will be here when I get home. And when I get my heart and head synched up, we can make love the right way, not the sweaty, grappling way. And I will call Gordon and give him a thumbs up, but I want to be there."

* * *

**Chapter 4: Chapter 4**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 4**

_My Goddess hear my darkest fear_

_I speak too late_

_It's for evermore that I wait_

_Dear friend, goodbye_

_No tears in my eyes_

_So sad it ends_

_As it began_

_White Queen, Queen_

She tossed her heavy bag to Bruce and headed for the elevator. He hung the bag down his back and followed her carefully. She hadn't given him a response, and he had been much more open about his feelings then his usual reticent self.

He finally realized how heavy the bag was. "Is there anything in here you need to go to the hotel, or can I just leave the arms and such down here?"

"What, too heavy for you Bruce?" she pouted at him.

He smirked at her shaking his head. "I'm leaving the bag here."

"I have clothes in there to change into. Not stuff to go gallivanting around Gotham with the playboy of the town, but good enough to be the 2nd richest person in Gotham and not give a damn. If I'm moving in here, I would like to shower and change before we go retrieve my stuff."

"Why am I carrying the bag? You are plenty strong enough to do it yourself." They entered the elevator for the two story ride up.

"Nice of you to notice baby. But I beat your ass two out of three "games", you got all my clothes off, and then had no follow through. You can carry my bags until I tell you otherwise." Her voice was even deeper and softer than usual. Bruce still carried his flag at full mast and it wasn't going down anytime soon. She played him like a Stradivarius, they both knew it, and he didn't care.

Bruce dropped the bag and aggressively backed her in a corner of the elevator. The look in his eyes was greedy and predatory. She was not scared but she was definitely turned on. The smell of their sweat mixed with their sexual scents filled the elevator. She never broke eye contact but she also stopped talking. This was his turn and she was giving it to him. He pressed his body forcefully against hers, pinning her arms behind her which she didn't fight. He approached her face, bringing his lips close to hers but not touching. He reached over without looking and hit the elevator stop switch, stopping the elevator and dimming the lights. He continued to toy with her like a cat with a mouse, moving in for a kiss, pulling back without touching her. She was bearing the brunt of his entire weight, which was much more dense then she would have imagined. Finally, like the cat after the mouse, he ruthlessly assaulted her mouth, so ready for him, opening immediately for his plunder. He kissed her like she had never been kissed before. His tongue raped her mouth and she returned the favor. Their two bodies were melting together. She started to fight the pinning of her arms. She wanted to touch him, run her fingers through his hair. He broke their kiss without moving his lips away.

"You know you can't get away. You don't even want to get away." His smugness pissed her off again and before he knew it she had pounded her boot against his barefoot insole and brought her knee up into his groin, especially painful due to his extended balls and very enlarged dick. He immediately released her.

"I wanted you to let me go so I could touch you, stroke you, feel you, you arrogant bastard. Then you made me hurt you." She slammed the elevator start button, and he was still slightly bent over.

"You don't play fair baby." His voice was hoarse, but he was very pleased that she had bested him again. She would be able to play in his world and while he would worry, she was no damsel in distress.

"If I played fair I would have been raped and tortured in the Congo, as well as half a dozen other places. Next time I ask nicely, do what I ask." They were still arguing as they got off the elevator, not even seeing Alfred standing nearby. "Given the position we were in, it was unlikely anything bad would have happened, and maybe even something very very good. That is twice today you fucked up Bruce. Are you sure you want me to move in here? What kind of a playboy are you anyway?"

Bruce took charge again, even though the pain from his kneeing was still evident, as was his hard-on. "Yes, you are moving in here. Alfred I'd like Alina in the rooms next to mine. And I am the kind of playboy who plays at being a playboy and obviously doesn't know what to do with a woman like you. You don't want my money, you are not impressed with me in general, you don't hang on my every word, you are sure as hell not excessive in your praise. That is how other women are around me. You are not. You have almost as much money as I do, you bested me two out of three of our little games, you can actually talk to me about important and meaningful things like good and evil. You have my head spinning and my dick hard as a rock since you came home. Well, now that you are home, you are going to be living at home, not in some hotel."

Through his whole frustrated one sided conversation, he had been hauling her heavy bag upstairs behind Alfred while she had listened carefully to everything he said. "That might be more words then I have heard you say since I've been back. And I would only change one statement, Bruce. I am very impressed with you in countless ways, both of you." She pulled his arm at the top of the stairs to stop him. "I will live here with you, and we will probably make each other crazy, but ultimately we are meant to be together. I can keep up with you and him. You aren't alone anymore, baby. I came home for you." She leaned up to him and gently brushed her bruised lips across his.

He returned the kiss gently and carefully after how rough he had been earlier. "I am so glad you came home. Thank you. Let's shower and change and go get the rest of your stuff. Ok?"

She smiled at him, a smile that lighted her eyes as well as his, and then she reached behind him and took the bag herself. "You don't have to carry all the weight any more baby. I'll be ready in half an hour."

* * *

**Chapter 5: Chapter 5**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 5**

_I live my life for you_

_Think all my thoughts with you and only you_

_Anything you ask I do for you_

_In the Lap of the Gods, Queen_

It took her a little longer than ½ an hour to get ready but finally she was headed down the stairs to the kitchen. She had on a tight greenish cut off tank top with flaming skull and crossbones on it, very low rider faded blue jeans, an Ed Hardy belt buckle with the word Trust emblazoned in crystals, well worn flip flops and her signature Ed Hardy sunglasses with crystal dragons on either side. They were ostentatious to the max and she adored them.

She flip flopped her way into the kitchen, stopping whatever conversation was going on there. Both Alfred and Bruce looked stunned at her attire. She immediately went on the defensive. "What? I told you I hadn't brought clothes for hanging out with the local playboy. If what I have on wasn't so expensive, I might even be seen as white trash. But this is what I got. I can do this without you, Bruce. Let me borrow your SUV and I'll be back in a while."

"You look hot, Alina. You'd look like trailer trash if you had on high heels, the flip flops make it perfect. Eat something before we go. Alfred made a nice Waldorf salad for us." She looked at him skeptically as if she thought he was humoring her. "And I have everything arranged for tomorrow with Gordon. Tonight over dinner, the three of us should figure out what you are going to wear."

She joined them at the table drinking a large glass of ice water and eating the salad. She really was quite hungry after their earlier amusements. Packing her stuff seemed like a drudgery task, but had to be done and she could not allow anyone else to take care of it.

"Why should there be concern over what I wear? While I am not currently dressed for discretion, the rest of the time you have seen me I was."

"You look great all the time. I just want as much of you covered as possible, the hair worn up, the tattoos covered."

"Why? You love my hair, and I didn't think my tats were a problem. They are tasteful and meaningful."

"You are right. I could drown in your hair, and that bloody scent of flowers I can't get out of my nose. But we cannot give Joker even a whiff of that or he will never let you go. You use my soap and shampoo tomorrow or something else plain. And your tats, the ones I've seen I don't care about. They are beautiful and perfect for you. But that, like your hair, like your perfume will just give the Joker more to obsess on and place you in more danger while you are with him in his cell and if he were to escape, which is a constant threat, he would make a bee line for you. Harvey, I am less concerned with. You look nothing like Rachel, so he will be less likely to obsess on you but he is constantly pushing the limits. While I don't think Joker is actually crazy, Harvey is which makes him even less predictable, if that were possible."

Alina knotted her eyebrows, furrowing her brows, thinking about how much really did need to be considered. She had always done this in past shoots. She wasn't sure why this time she hadn't considered it. Perhaps it was not being alone anymore, she was becoming less attentive to the dangers she faced. Perhaps it was just being stateside once again that gave her a greater sense of relief.

Alfred saw her starting to distance herself and asked, "Is there anything I should know about what you eat or don't eat? I was starting to plan our dinner tonight."

"Alfred, that is so sweet of you to ask. I have eaten God knows what over a fire in bush country, and scrabbled by on seeds and berries in other places. Some places there simply was nothing because we were too high in the Himalayas. And then I've also eaten at the finest French and Italian restaurants. England, I'm sorry to say Alfred, had nothing to recommend itself cuisine-wise except its quite exceptional Indian food. So, I guess I'm saying I'm game for anything once, but don't be offended if I don't eat it. I ate some terrible stuff and have become quite picky if anything stateside reminds me of those dreadful meals, if you could call them that."

"Surpassing English cuisine is an easy task, as is I'm sure whatever one would eat in the bush of Africa. French and Italian restaurants are difficult to compete with, but I shall try. You two enjoy your outing. Do try to stay out of trouble. You both seem destined for it to find you." The young, very attractive couple smiled at Alfred and wandered off to the biggest SUV Bruce had.

Alina laughed when she walked into the 15 car garage. He owned everything from vintage cars and motorcycles to your basic fully loaded Chevy Denali to the Lamborghini of course. She started to say something about a boy and his toys, but thought there were probably quite a few more toys present somewhere and she'd save the quip for then.

Soon they were parking in front of the Gotham Towers. Bruce just left his Denali parked under the veranda right at the front door, despite it clearly not being a parking area but a loading and unloading zone. He grabbed two bellboys with carts and asked them quite politely to follow them upstairs. They had some packing to do, it could take a while. Alina stopped by the front desk while Bruce waited with the carts to let them know she was checking out today and could they run her bill up and bring it to her room so she could pay for it. She of course was extremely nice to them all and then turned and walked over to Bruce who took her hand in his and led the way to the elevators.

As soon as the carts were in the room and the bellboys had been tipped $100 a piece, the door closed and Alina sighed. "Bruce, they are all going to think I am your bimbo of the week, moving in, thinking I'm staying, but you'll throw me out in a week and I'll be back. I can practically hear the gossip up here."

"Well, we both know none of it is true, so why do you care what the clerks or bell boys think? You could buy this hotel in an afternoon, fire everyone and start over."

"But you already own it don't you?"

"Yeah, you would have to negotiate with me over the hotel, the equipment, the fine paintings in every room, the beds." His insinuation clear in his tone as well as his words.

"You already struck out twice today big boy. You tease me again like that I might have to hurt you, _again_." She smirked at him as she headed to the bedroom to begin packing. Unaware he was even doing it, he followed her and out of a need for something to do started opening drawers. He had unintentionally hit pay dirt as he lifted the most exquisite crème silk nightgown he had ever seen out of the drawer. The entire gown was silk satin and the back laced up like a corset from the lowest place on a woman's back to what looked to finish at the shoulder blades.

Alina walked out of the bath area and saw Bruce standing there with a distant odd look on his face. "Bruce, what is it baby? Do you like it?"

"It still has the price tag on it. You have never even worn it. Will you wear it for me?" He looked suddenly vulnerable to her. Alina walked towards him slowly, lifting the expensive and beautiful gown out of his hands. She neatly folded it and placed it in the suitcase. He had watched every move.

Alina turned and faced him, "When the time comes Bruce, and both of you are ready for me to be in your life in that way, I will wear it for you. Until then, it will stay in a drawer. I will not wear it for anyone except you."

She went to him and took his hand and led him out of the bedroom. She handed him a stack of photograph books and several larger books that documented her journey. She put her hands on either side of his face, drawing his eyes to hers. "You might find these of interest. The larger books hold my masterpieces, the photographs to be published. The smaller books are just photographs of the people, the animals, the joy and the fear of my journey. No less interesting I think, but not especially art either. I will finish packing." While she still held his eyes and his face, she reached up to his soft, delicate lips and kissed him gently then she returned to the bedroom to continue packing.

Several hours later everything was complete. She had emptied the safe and triple checked it, checked the bath, under the bed, in every drawer. She was leaving nothing behind. She had more memory treasures packed then clothes Bruce realized as he had looked around. She had carvings from Africa, blessed Budda beads from the Himalayas, a sword from a special place high in the mountains, gifts to her from others all over the world. Bruce recognized the sword immediately from his own journey and was shocked to see Alina had found herself there as well and learned the same lessons. They would make a good team, in and out of bed, in and out of costume. This had all been meant to be, the sword was his proof.

Using his authoritarian voice, he called for three bell boys to come help with the luggage. They were finally ready to go. While he had been absorbed in her photographs, she had changed clothes into something she was more comfortable in, and something she felt was more appropriate to be seen with him in. She had on crème linen pants, matching shoes, and a sheer crème blouse with pearl buttons loosely done with a lace corset clearly visible underneath. Her hair flowed around her and once he looked up from her photos to look at her, he could hardly remove his eyes from her. She was unaware she was being watched because she was double checking she wasn't leaving anything, but turned towards him when she heard his voice asking for the bellboys. Bruce hung up the phone and walked towards her, his long stride reaching her in seconds. He buried his hand in her scented hair, pulling her head back, exposing her neck to him. He could see her pulse beating in her carotid artery, and could feel her breath speeding up. He brought his lips to hers, demanding, powerful, relentless in his desire for entrance. She spread her lips, just like she knew she would spread everything else for this man. He entered her mouth, ravaging it with his tongue, his hands ravaging her body through her clothes. Even knowing the busboys were seconds away, their mouths locked together, he reached his free hand through the opening in her blouse and scooped her breast out, breaking his mouth away from hers and replacing it on her nipple. His tongue roughly licked the nipple and then he began to suckle. She could hardly breathe at this point, and had to be wet enough to at the very least be uncomfortable and at the worst stain her pants with her wetness. She could feel Bruce painfully hard as well. She heard the bellboys arriving and she yanked herself away from him, unwillingly and painfully.

"I told you not to tease me again today Bruce." Alina turned and walked into the bathroom to readjust her clothing and clean herself up. She removed the excess wetness, repaired her lipstick, fixed the corset and adjusted her blouse. A flip of her hair and no one would know she had just been in yet another of Bruce Wayne's teasing passions.

She walked out of the room with one final look around, checked that her photography books were accounted for, walked past the bellboys with a cool "Gentlemen," and headed to the elevator without looking back. Bruce caught up with her but just walked quietly beside her, not talking and not touching her. The elevator arrived at the lower floor finally and while she wasn't sure anyone else could smell it, and maybe it was just her imagination, she thought they reeked of sex, unfulfilled sex, but sex just the same.

She dismissed Bruce, an uncommon event if there ever was one, with a brief "I'll meet you at the car Bruce. I'll settle my bill." And turned and walked to the front desk. Turns out, since he owns the place, he had already handled it, which just pissed her off more. She was completely capable of paying her own bills. She had nearly as much money as he did. After all, once one got past a billion dollars, who's counting?

The three bellboys were loading the car, but Bruce had thoughtfully placed the photographs, all of them, in the passenger seat where she could carry them in her lap. She sat silently looking through one of the random books full of memories. She realized he must have had similar journeys in becoming Batman, but could not document those. No one could ever know about his other side. She felt like she was getting involved in some sort of threesome, but with only two people. She laughed softly to herself, of course that would only happen to her. She could tell, even without the costume she had never seen, who was kissing her. The hotel room had been Batman, the elevator had been Batman, the dojo had been Bruce. She wondered if he even knew it himself.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Chapter 6**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 6**

_I touch your lips with mine_

_But in the end_

_I leave it to the lords_

_Leave it in the lap of the Gods_

_In the Lap of the Gods, Queen_

Bruce had arranged for two of the bellboys to drive the hotel van and follow them back to the mansion to unload the car. Alina thought that would be helpful. She didn't want to do it, Bruce undoubtedly didn't want to either, and Alfred couldn't get all that crap up the stairs.

They had been driving in silence for about ten minutes when they both decided to start talking at the same time.

Bruce started with, "I'm really sorry I keep…"

And Alina started with, "Did you know that…"

They looked at each other and shyly smiled. Alina looked sadly at Bruce, "Baby you go first."

He sighed and just dove in. He was not pretending to be in control, she knew him better than he knew himself. He was just going to give it up, show his vulnerability. She knew it already. That is how she had gotten to him so fast. "Alina, since you have been back I see things in colors again. It's been a long time since I could do that, even way before Rachel died. No one could see anything, no hints of who I was, who I am. I couldn't keep the two separate all the time, it was just awful for me inside to go out on dates and do my 'playboy' thing. So anyway, I'm sorry I keep screwing up with you. I'm around you and I turn into someone else, aggressive and needy, and that isn't how I want to treat you. You should be respected. Those photographs you let me look at, my God, they were amazing and so much more than the muck we get caught up in here in Gotham. If you stay, you will lose your vision. That creative spark will die."

"I've only been here a few days, are you already trying to send me away?"

"NO! No, Alina I want you to stay for mostly selfish reasons and some because I think you can help Batman. Even if I thought I could take a higher ground, I couldn't. I want you to stay absolutely, without doubt. But I fear for your talent. But maybe we can go on trips and I can journey with you."

"I think I would like that. But in the meantime Bruce, I came back to help. That whole journey you viewed while I packed was to become the person I am today so I can help clean up Gotham. Some of that journey had to look familiar to you. I saw your face when you saw the sword. You have been there. The difference is that I am willing to kill, whereas Batman is not. Tonight, after dinner maybe with some wine I'll go through those pictures and tell you the story. Batman is The Dark Knight, maybe I am the White Queen. The Queen trounces all."

"Do I scare you because I am so twisted inside?"

"Bruce, you are far from twisted. You are complicated, but aren't we all? It is what makes us able to do what we have to do. You do not scare me. Batman does not scare me. I have nothing to fear from either of you. Greatness sometimes requires a division of focus, of thought processes, and you can do that. I have much the same training as you, have probably seen more true evil around the world, certainly I am willing to commit more evil to prevent worse, but because I am willing to openly struggle with tough subjects like good and evil and not keep it all bottled up, it is easier for me to be the complex person I am meant to be. Perhaps as hiding my identity becomes a larger challenge as it has for you the struggle will be more difficult, assuming Batman ever lets me out to play. But what does frighten me Bruce, is that if I have been sent back here to help you, to pull you back from the edge, what happens if I fail? Failure where you are concerned terrifies me. Can I tell you something else I realized when I was waiting in the car at the hotel?"

"Yeah."

"The man who almost took me on the dojo mat this morning, so close and yet so far, was Bruce Wayne. The man who aggressively pinned me in the elevator was Batman. The man who ravaged my hair, my lips, my breast in the hotel room was Batman. It's not the costume that makes the man, it's the man. I can tell the difference by your touch, your kiss, even your smell. I have nothing to fear from either man, and am happy to oblige either or both. It is sort of like being in a kinky three way. But I will not be used as a temporary sex measure. You cannot play with me, either of you. I was sent here for a reason—to save you from yourself and I will fulfill that purpose. But that purpose does not automatically include sex. I want for us to make love, I want us to fuck until we are blind, I want you to make me pass out from so many powerful orgasms, and I want you to come deep inside of me all night and all day. But I do not want any more of what we had today. Kiss me on the forehead, or if you are seeking a more physical, emotional attachment, kiss me good night at my bedroom door. If you need to talk after you get back from your nightly sojourns, the door will be unlocked. But do not molest me, or disrespect me by starting something you cannot finish again. Three times in one day is too much to bear. Do not take from me again."

"You are right. It won't happen again, until it is time. And there will be the right time, Alina, and you will wear that satin nightgown. And I don't know if one or both of us will come to your bed, but we will come out of love."

They had been sitting in the truck with the bellboys standing behind them waiting to open the back door, but they had to finish their talk, and they had, so Alina opened her door and left Bruce to handle everything else. She took her photos to the kitchen, where she thought they might be safest under Alfred's watchful eye. She invited him to look at them if he wanted, then grabbed a juice and left. She took the elevator down two floors to the shooting range. She lined up some targets at a challenging distance and fired away. She even got the sniper's rifle out and shot several holes in the poor metal target's head. Some of her adrenalin spent, she gathered the cleaning supplies, sat at the table and chairs and proceeded to empty, clean, and reload each and every gun, along with her rifle. When Bruce found her, she was putting the guns back where they went. She looked sideways at him, calmer then she had been all day.

"You found me."

"Your car was still here, granted one could get lost in this place, but I thought you might go where you were most comfortable."

"Guns and sniper's rifle are all clean and reloaded, but not chambered. Used targets are over there. I wasn't sure what you did with them, or where the new ones are."

Bruce looked at the targets. He could almost line up all the targets and have the holes line up as well. A few were slightly off, but it demonstrated incredible marksmanship and he told her.

"Bruce, I shoot to kill every time. An injured target can always get up again and cause you or others danger. A dead one is just dead."

He smiled at her warmly, invitingly even, and she looked at him confused. "What?"

"Your stunning ensemble is now covered in gun cleaning solution and gun powder."

She looked down at her lovely crème outfit that was now ruined. Gun cleaning oil did not do well on linen. "I will have to shop soon. I hate it with a passion, but I cannot travel everywhere in jeans, nor would I want to. Hmm, I guess another shower is in order, and yet another set of clothes. Will dinner and after dinner be casual or should I dress? Are you going out or am I going to tell you about the pictures?"

"You should definitely dress. Neither my heart nor my body could take anything else, but I think those jeans and the tank top you had on earlier would be fine. Batman will be staying home tonight. I would like to hear about your pictures instead."

It was her turn to look deep into his eyes and see what was meant. "Your heart? I see. We shall look at pictures then, actually since I get paid ridiculous sums of money for them and they end up in museums, they are called photographs, portraits even."

"Photographs or portraits then. I want to hear your journey, my White Queen.

"And I yours, my Black Knight. But what about Alina Witter and Bruce Wayne? They are the heart of everything. It is their journey not the Black Knight or the White Queen. The Black Knight and White Queen are the result of the stronger pairs' journeys."

The elevator dinged on the main level. As they stepped out, Bruce looked at her sideways, "And the beautiful Queen gives her mere servant yet more to think about. Dinner will be ready at 6:00."

Alina shook her head slightly at Bruce and walked slowly off towards the stairs that led to her room. She didn't look forward to unpacking everything, but most had been done already. A note on the bathroom mirror,

"_I know you have had a long and troubling day. You are so very necessary here and to him. He knows it, but he just does not know how to show it. He does not want to be vulnerable to anyone, whether he is Bruce Wayne or Batman. Please don't give up on us. I took the liberty of starting most of the unpacking but left some more personal items to you. Dinner is at 6:00. I go to bed around 8:00 these days, so the two of you will have some time alone. Alfred."_

What a sweet man, always, _always_ thinking of Bruce first, and then to think of her at all was just really nice. She was suddenly so tired. She hopped quickly into the shower, not bothering with her hair. She pulled the lace corset back on with some black lounge pants, pulled her hair into a ponytail and thought to lie down for just a moment. The dreams started. The dreams were never good. Bruce was there, Batman was there, they were fighting, dueling actually. Time flashed backwards and Bruce was a younger teenager brokenhearted again by Rachel. And there was Alina, sought after constantly but only desiring one. The dream was half truths half lies, but she couldn't stand Bruce left with a broken heart again. She woke up as Batman killed Bruce and she cried out his name as she woke up. Bruce was sitting beside her bed, trying to wake her from the nightmare he found her in. Somehow he knew the dream. He knew what it was about. He lay down next to her, holding Alina while she cried. She kept trying to explain it to him, but he kept saying he already knew.

"Alina, I have the same dream. Batman kills Bruce over Rachel. If I had just chosen you, even though you were everyone else's choice too, then with you standing with me Batman cannot destroy me. He is a part of me, but he does not destroy me. The dream makes sense now. I was trying to make it make sense with Rachel as the Queen. But she could never be my queen. That is only for you."

"You understand. You know what I was trying to say at the elevator."

"Yeah, I got it baby. I understand. I know I have to open both myself and Batman to you so we can all grow stronger. Vulnerability is not a strong suit, but with your help, and maybe your love, we can do it. You are the key to our ultimate power. The White Queen trumps everything and everyone." He started to lean over her to kiss her swollen lips and tear filled eyes, but then thought better and maybe he should ask.

"Alina, can I kiss you? I want to kiss your swollen lips, I'll be gentle not rough like before. I want to kiss the tears from your eyes. I only want to comfort you and take comfort from you." Bruce was so careful, his lips barely brushed her skin but could taste the salt. He was just glad he had not been the cause of these tears, this time.

She felt his tenderness and pulled him towards her lips closer, wanting more. "Alina, what do you want? You said nothing more, no more making out without finishing what we started."

"I guess I want more, I need more. Let me clean up and go to dinner and then after dinner we will start to tell our tales. And I want more. Can you give me more? You aren't ready to make love, but what are you ready for Bruce?"

"I'm ready for it all, Alina. Maybe tonight you should wear the satin nightgown."

She smiled a very predatory smile, and that deep seductive voice. "Is this going to be a twosome or threesome? Do you know yet?"

"You keep using that voice, and you are going to get the whole ball of wax."

She smiled even more predatorily. "Oh yeah. Not too long of a night boys because I have to face the Joker and Harvey in the morning. But I'm game for either or both of you."

"Dinner is on the table. You need to get cleaned up, but before you leave my arms, I want to let you know that I love you and I need you. We are the pair that wins or loses the game. Pull me back from the edge, Alina. Pull me back with your love, with your heart." Alina smiled and ran one of her well manicured nails down his face to his lips, leaned in to kiss him, breathing in his temporary vulnerability, his love, his deep need for her to complete him. She gently broke away from him and left the bed to repair the dream's damage. She left her hair down because she knew he liked it that way. She repaired what little makeup she had on, spritzed her perfume, slipped on some graceful black slippers and returned to the bedroom, not sure if Bruce would still be there. He was still lying on the bed with one arm over his eyes resting. He knew the instant she returned to the room and moved his arm and opened his eyes simultaneously.

She looked at him sympathetically. "Tired?"

He sat up slowly on the bed and swung around to the edge. "Yeah. I think I got my ass handed to me a couple of times today. I fell in love. A pretty big day for me. Making billion dollar deals just doesn't stack up."

She smiled carefully, "Let's go eat and maybe we make it an early night. Tomorrow is a big day, and a dangerous one. We cannot lose sight of that, Bruce. Both of our senses and skills have to be in top form."

He let her outstretched hand pull him off the bed, leaned down to kiss her quickly, and led her out of her new quarters and down to the kitchen, where Alfred waited.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Chapter 7**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 7**

_She keeps Moet Et Chandon_

_In her pretty cabinet_

'_Let them eat cake' she says_

_Just like Marie Antoinette_

_A built-in remedy_

_For Kruschev and Kennedy_

_At anytime an invitation you can't decline_

_Killer Queen, Queen_

Dinner was delicious, but the company was somewhat combative at times. Bruce and Alina were back to arguing over what she should wear to photograph the Joker and Harvey Dent, or rather Two-Face. Bruce had let his fear take over his more persuasive skills and was busy demanding various things from shoes to how she wore her hair or makeup. Alfred thought to Alina's credit she let Bruce do his controlling thing, looking for things she could agree with him on, and stayed silent. Alfred knew she would compromise where she could or wanted to, but Bruce was not going to get what he wanted this way. Bruce was now strenuously pacing the floor, making everyone in their small family crazy.

Alina's sex filled voice she used often, and often unfairly, stopped Bruce in his tracks. "Let me speak, Bruce. You have done everything but swing from the light fixtures your testosterone levels are so high. It is my turn. 1) I will wear my hair back in a tight knot. I will not use clamps or sticks. I'll make it work with rubber bands which will shred my hair, your precious hair. 2) I will wear green fatigues tucked into my army issue boots. I will have nothing in the pockets. I will wear a fatigue green belt. 3) I will wear a man's black t-shirt with an unspecified logo on it. It is long sleeved and I will pull them up to my elbows. No tattoos will show. 4) I will wear a minimal amount of makeup." Then with a voice that brooked no further discussion Alina said, "Take it or leave it."

Both men immediately agreed to her terms. Alfred wasn't even part of the argument but still found himself agreeing, which Alina found cute. Bruce was very pleased that he was getting more than he had even asked for. Neither man gave her the credit she deserved. She looked to Bruce asking him to sit. Alfred cleared the table quickly and she asked him to join them. She had pulled out one of her books and turned to two specific pictures and turned the book around to them so they could see the two pictures side by side. Alina began to explain. "The two of you refuse to recognize my skill, my capabilities, my strengths, and my intelligence. You want to paint me into one of your eye candy arm pieces you wear periodically. I can do that too, as I think you have already realized. But I can do so much more. I have been sent here to be the other half of you, my White Queen to your Black Knight. I was groomed for it from ages ago, and now when you need me the most, I have been sent to you. You already know I can best you at least 2 out of 3 of our games earlier. I can make your manhood come to full sail with a whisper. But there is so much more that you have no idea of. I want to give you an example of what I am capable of, and why I understand safety, and that I do understand my beauty is both a weapon and a serious hindrance." Bruce was still a little embarrassed about her full sail comment, but when she brought her finger to the picture to draw his attention, he listened closely. The man in the picture gave him chills even through the photograph. He tried to imagine what it must have been like being near him. "This man was named Ekebala. He was an extremely evil man that "owned" a large part of the Congo. He terrified almost an entire continent, would find the most torturous ways to kill others for his amusement, even his own people were terrified of him. Still, he allowed me to take his picture. An American photographer wants to take his photograph for an American magazine. His ego practically exploded. The outfit we agreed on for tomorrow is what I wore when I met with him, although I wore a tank top instead of a long sleeved shirt. He saw and feared some of my tattoos, as he should. They were protection marks from those who protect. To harm me would bring armies down on his world. He knew this. I did not have to explain it to him. So I took his pictures. And then I asked to take pictures of his "craftsmanship." This picture is of Ken Norton, Special Forces of a very special kind. He had been captured and left behind because he was one of a team acquiring a dumbass politician who took priority. His team would come back for him, but perhaps not before he died. Ekebala had cut this once beautiful man to pieces, and yet left him intact. There was not a place on his body, he was naked so I know, that had not been cut, skin sheared off, or otherwise damaged. Flies covered his body and those flies had laid eggs in his open skin. The maggots were literally eating him alive. I am somewhat telepathic, and he was very telepathic. He told me how to get a hold of his team and what to tell them. I told him I would not leave him until they came for him. I would be hidden, and would not act until they were there, but Ekebala was a dead man. He wanted me to just send the message and go, it was too dangerous, but I could not. So I sent the message, was told less than 16 hours. When I told the voice on the other end I didn't think he had 16 hours, it became much less. Somehow they folded time and got there in 8. I could feel the telepathy going on, but only could catch glimpses. Ken could still talk to me that way and counted down the hours, while I listened to his screams. He insisted that I wait to take out that monster until his team was right on top of us. Otherwise, we might both die. That sniper rifle downstairs, I killed Ekebala with it from a mile away in the rainforest. I sat in that damned tree with all kinds of shit crawling on me for more than 8 hours until his team came. Ken's team took out the rest of the camp and got him on the helo and took off, picking me up in a clearing to just get me out of there. We talked sometimes telepathically, but mostly everyone was concerned about Ken, including me. He had told them all what I had done for him and their graciousness was truly humbling. I did get this t-shirt in the mail with a cryptic message. 'Been there got the t-shirt' sort of thing. Those men whose mind's I touched kill people in the name of good. They are battle scared and even battle weary, but ultimately they are good even if some of them doubt just like you do. Several of them have women who have been mated to them, no one knows how, but it is the love of those women that keeps them on the right side of choice. I believe I killed Ekebala in the name of good. I know I fight on the side of right, of good. When I go to confession, I confess my sins, but I am not sorry for the people I have killed. They were evil terrible men and did not deserve to live. Is it my place to judge? I don't know, and maybe I go to hell with all my targets. God is a little wishy-washy on the subject, 'Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord' or is it 'An eye for an eye?' Religion is a topic for another day."

Alina sighed, took a drink of wine, and finished her story, "Not all the stories behind the pictures are this dramatic, and I did not kill all the evil men I met. After all, sometimes it is better to know the evil you have rather than the unknown evil that might replace them. Iraq is a good example, but Afghanistan has turned out better. Anyway, I appreciate that you are both concerned with my safety. But after the Congo and Ekebala, the Joker or Two-Face will be egotists, killers, planners, chaos inducers, even maybe insane. But they are not this kind of evil. Bruce, this is why I have been sent here. You make every evil challenge about you, about Batman. Is Batman evil like those he seeks? Do you have the right to place judgment on others? I struggle with those questions too. But my answers seem much more cut and dried than yours. The world is so much broader than Gotham. We have to struggle through the questions, and find the answers we need to make every situation not be a gigantic crisis of conscience. It doesn't have to be."

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Alfred silently finished cleaning around them, looked at Alina with sadness at all she had seen and yet he had a pleased sense of purpose for her. He walked over to her, closing the photograph book that Bruce had not been able to remove his eyes from, picked it up and handing it to her with a kiss to her forehead. "Your photographs, what I have seen so far, are inspiring and terrifying. You, Miss Alina, are also terrifying in your beauty, your intelligence, and your power, and inspiring in your capability to love, to save, and to do the right thing. Welcome to our home. Good night all."

Bruce automatically wished Alfred a good night and watched him pass through the doors to his own significant quarters. Alina looked at Bruce across the table, not sure if she should be afraid she had scared him too much, or perhaps she had just freaked him out with her story. He watched the expressions cross her face and knew that for once perhaps the first time since she had arrived she was no longer quite so sure of herself. He pushed his chair back, and took a couple steps towards her taking her hand gently to encourage her out of her chair. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, tucking her under his own shoulder, bending to place a gentle kiss on her temple, and together they left the kitchen.

A/N: Ekebala and Ken Norton are characters from books by Christine Feehan, Deadly Game and Conspiracy Game. Two excellent books, great series, Ghostwalkers rock! I took what Ms. Feehan had written across a few books, inserted my OC in and made up the rest. It is purely based on her inspiration.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Chapter 8**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 8**

_Caviar and cigarettes_

_Well versed in etiquette_

_Extraordinarily nice_

_Killer Queen, Queen_

Bruce led Alina into the main family room. It had a hearth she could stand in, beautiful overstuffed leather furniture, soft lighting provided by assorted Tiffany lamps. He set the wine and glasses on the table and left her sitting on the sofa while he went to turn on some music. She smiled and poured the wine into the glasses for them. He rejoined her on the sofa, laying his tall and dense frame filling the sofa and pushing her off if she didn't join him by lying beside him. She giggled at him as she easily repositioned herself.

"That's really subtle Master Wayne. Either you push me off the sofa or I have to lie beside you. You are a naughty boy. Is this your standard mode of operation?"

"Yeah, years of practice of trying to get girls to make out with me."

"Trying? As I recall past and present, you never had to work at it too hard."

Bruce lay on his side with Alina's body pressed against his. He let his hand run through her hair, what she called his precious hair. It was his precious hair on her body. Everything about her was precious to him.

His teasing voice was gone and a serious one replaced it. "Are all the stories that go with those pictures that scary? That dramatic?"

"No, Bruce. I picked a particularly dangerous and scary situation to make a point. There have been a lot of times where my beauty worked for me, and others it worked against me. There were a lot of pictures that were hard to take, just because of the sheer inhumanity of it. And others, like Bush and Cheney won't end up in the final draft of the magazine. It is hard to call the former President and Vice President evil. It is one thing on the web, another in a magazine like Vanity Fair."

"But Vanity Fair was one of the first to break the story about the Iraq war lies shortly after the war broke out. Maybe they'll have the balls to publish your entire piece. Of course, I just read the magazine for the ads, stay caught up on the best in clothing attire, that sort of thing."

"It is useful for that. I like all the perfume samples, even if I have mine personally made. Maybe you are right about Vanity Fair and they will publish the article as written. Will I get to take a picture of Batman?"

"I don't think so."

"What about Bruce Wayne? The work your foundation does is brilliant. It saves millions of lives a year."

"What about Alina Witter? The fearless globetrotting photographer, life saving ghost, and assassin, she should be in there on the side of justice, of good."

"Definitely not. I rather liked my anonymity when I returned until I started hanging out with you. Hard to stay under the radar anywhere near you."

"I think she doth protest too much. You bought that bright cherry red Lamborghini. That is hardly subtle. At least mine is just blue. Or what about that dress you wore to my house that first day. The back…" Bruce took his finger running it slowly through the laces of her corset all the way to where her tailbone ended, "dropped all the way to here. You could not even have worn a thong with that dress, must have been thigh highs and no panties at all. No attention seeking going on there. Nope, not at all."

Alina laughed at being called out. "I could have had anyone, and only wanted you. You only wanted Rachel. You always blew me off, always. I figure you never even knew I was gone when I left for Switzerland. I guess this time, when I came calling, I wanted to make sure I got, and held your attention." Their bodies pressed together as they were, she could feel his hardened staff through the jeans he had on. She hadn't even used the voice yet.

"And do you think you have my attention Alina?"

She turned on the voice, "Oh baby, I think I have some of your attention. I'm pretty sure I can hold the attention that I do have. But I want your undivided attention, and that I do not have."

Bruce smirked as he pulled her against him where there was nothing being hidden. Bruce was enormous, wide, thick and long. Her breathing sped up at the thought. "I would say my attention is undivided Alina. I want you, we want you, all of you, forever."

"Forever is a very long time, Bruce. Batman and the White Queen cannot go on forever. They have a limited lifespan before someone else must be chosen to pick up the mantle. Alina and Bruce, they could go on for a very long time, have children, be safe."

"Harvey Dent told me once, before he went crazy, 'You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.' I already think I might be a villain. Maybe it will be time to recognize my limits like Alfred is always telling me. You and me together as the Black Knight and his White Queen for a while, and then move on with our lives before we become the evil we fight."

Alina didn't twitch a muscle, didn't use the voice, used no other means to get the answer she wanted. It had to be a truthful answer, not a manipulated one. "Bruce, will the Black Knight be able to sacrifice himself for the greater couple of Bruce and Alina, put down his mantle even if there is no one to pick it up, to live a normal life? Will he have the courage when the time comes?"

"Will his Queen have the courage to tell him when the time has come?"

She smiled at him, love shining in her eyes she answered him with a kiss. "I have the courage, baby. I don't scare easy, even by you. But will you be able to do it when I ask?"

"I won't kid you and say it will be easy. But I will follow your lead. You spoke of children. You want to have my children?" He unconsciously pulled her even closer to him, like he was trying to draw her body into his.

"Of course I want to have your children. That is what I have done all of this for. I had choices, bad things could have happened, Batman could have been killed before I finished my training, my projects. But I now have my background, my cover, my own money, and the abilities to be your partner, your lover, and some day to have your children."

She touched his mind lightly to hear his thoughts and then he felt her in his head, feeling like a feather brushing against his thoughts. "You're reading my thoughts." He sounded curious.

"_Yes, for the first time I am in your head. And I feel you in mine too. We can strengthen this bond and talk over long distances. We can tell each other how we feel, we can show each other what we want, we can just be with each other."_

He smirked, and painted a very graphic picture of what he wanted to be doing to her right that minute in her head. Her eyes got large with surprise, and her feminine center went wet immediately. Her breathing sped up, as did Bruce's. He was now rock hard, and ready to burst through his button-fly jeans. She could hear his mind growling with a predatory need to have her, over and over again. Her voice squeaked out a very surprised, "You _are _a very quick study."

Her throat went dry and she started to wiggle out of his hold on her. She painted him an equally graphic picture of what she wanted from him. Once her feet hit the floor in her escape she ran up the stairs, throwing herself into her room. She could tell he was stopping by the kitchen for bottled water while she changed clothes. She pulled the silk nightgown over her head, brushed her hair until is shined, spritzed herself with her perfume and quickly brushed her teeth and applied lipstick. He meandered, the only word for his intentional slowness, from the kitchen with an ice bucket and bottled waters up the stairs to her room. While he was lollygagging around, she lit candles, turned on the music, and turned down the bed. In her head, she voiced to him, _"A little slow on the uptake baby. Better hurry it up before I fall asleep or lose interest."_

"_You aren't going to lose interest. And I need to shower. I'll be there in a few minutes."_

"_You, Master Wayne, are a fucking tease. I'm going to see what is on TV. I'll probably be asleep by the time you get here."_

She heard him laugh in her head and was pleased. He sounded so happy instead of so grim all the time.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Chapter 9**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 9**

_She's a killer queen_

_Gunpowder, gelatin_

_Dynamite with a laser beam_

_Guaranteed to blow your mind_

_Anytime_

_Killer Queen, Queen_

Bruce showered, taking his time, drawing things out for both of them. He brushed his teeth, but didn't bother to shave. He knew it would leave razor burn on her face, her tender breasts, her sensitive inner thighs and he wanted to. He wanted to mark her in the most primitive way. He was surprised at how predatory he felt towards Alina. His need for her was primal and deep. He had no intention of letting her go, ever. He thought he might be happy for the first time in a long time. Alfred would enjoy saying I told you so.

He pulled on some navy blue sweats that hung loose and very low on his abdomen and wore no shirt or shoes. Bruce grabbed the ice bucket and water bottles and left his room to go to hers. He knocked briefly and entered, surprised that she didn't turn to him but left her attention on the TV screen. He set the bucket and water on the dresser and walked up beside her, taking her beauty in before turning his attention to the television screen. The newscaster was talking over the pictures of the decimated Bank of Gotham. It had literally been bombed out like something one might see in the Gaza Strip.

Bruce looked at Alina with true regret in his eyes. She knew what he had to do. He kissed her gently, becoming more brutal as he shifted to become Batman. "Be careful. Come home to my bed when you get back. I love you."

"It might be late."

"I know. Just come back to me. Stay focused baby. No undivided attention."

The man that left was already Batman and he went to dress and leave to see what he could do to help Commissioner Gordon.

Hours later, she felt the mattress move and rolled to meet her lover. He was freshly showered and clearly exhausted. He wore the same sweats he had on earlier and nothing else. He reached for her warmth, her strength, her body and was startled to find her naked. "You sleep naked?" his tired voice asked, pleased and surprised.

"When I can. Are you ok? Hurt?" The concern in her voice was steep.

He was running his hands slowly up and down her body, through her hair, just centering himself, grounding himself in the person he had found who could bring him back to humanity. "I'm not hurt. The costume is heavy and makes it tiring to wear for long periods of time. I need to talk about getting it lighter. While I so enjoy touching you, and love that you are naked, I think I will not be able to take advantage of it tonight."

"I didn't expect you to baby. That's why I took off the silk satin gown and put it away. Let me hold you while you sleep. Tomorrow I face the Joker and we both need our sleep."

"Thank you for being here. I love you. Don't leave."

"I'm not going anywhere Bruce. Go to sleep." She felt his body completely relax against hers letting her know he was asleep. Sometime either Bruce or Alfred had alluded to Bruce's inability to sleep. Or maybe it was something she had picked up inadvertently from their minds. He was asleep now and hopefully would stay that way until they had to get ready for the photo shoot. She concentrated on his breathing, relaxing into it, letting herself follow him into sleep.

At 8:00 am, Bruce was still sleeping in her arms although she had started to wake. There was a soft knock on the door to which she responded quietly, knowing it was Alfred. He came in, smiled at the sleeping Bruce Wayne in Alina's bed. He knew Batman had gone out last night, but had returned to her instead of replaying the night in his head repeatedly or otherwise obsessing on the adventure. Bruce opened his eyes and lazily turned onto his back, smiling at the smirk on Alfred's face.

"Breakfast Master Wayne, Lady Alina?"

Alina laughed outloud at the 'Lady Alina.' "Is that the feminine version of Master? I would have thought it to be Mistress. But that sounds a little to Bondage and S&amp;M for my taste. Lady seems a bit of a stretch too, but I think you tease us Alfred. You are no more an English Butler in this family then I am a Queen."

"Ah, perhaps so milady 'All the world's a stage…' after all. What time will you be leaving sir? And will we be taking the Rolls, or are you going for more of a splash with say, the cherry red Lamborghini?"

Alina giggled as she enjoyed the orange juice and croissant. "'…And all the men and women merely players.'"

Bruce looked at Alina and smirked, "Showoff. I am surrounded by literature majors. I think the Rolls today, Alfred. We will leave at 9:30, ok?"

"Yes, sir. We will be ready. That doesn't leave much time for playing around you two. And you know Master Wayne, if you cracked a book now and again instead of cracking heads, perhaps you could keep up."

Both Bruce and Alina laughed. "Don't slam the door on your way out Alfred. And thank you for breakfast."

Alfred tilted his head knowingly at Bruce and left the room. The couple finished their breakfast and reluctantly parted. Sex, despite Alfred's innuendo, was not on the agenda for this morning. There was no time for a satisfactory first time and there was no way even a hint of sex could be smelled on Alina. It was too dangerous.

Two hours later the Rolls Royce, driven by Alfred, pulled into Arkham Asylum. There were no other cars in the visitor's parking lot, and the whole place gave off an air of creepiness. It was perfect for photographing, which Alina started immediately knowing they did not have much time as they were expected. Alina and Bruce had argued the entire way about his entering the room if she was in danger or not. She was furious at the inference that she would need his help, and if he did come to her aid it would blow his cover for Batman. "Absolutely not. You will not do this, Bruce."

"Even in those clothes, not a bit of makeup on, and your hair pulled completely back as to be unrecognizable, you are still too beautiful and it makes it too dangerous. I will come in if I think you need it."

"You are in love with me, Bruce. Of course you find me beautiful in any circumstances. And maybe one or both of them will as well, even if it is just because I am a woman. But I am the better fighter."

Bruce grunted in what was unclear as agreement or disagreement. "We will have a word. A password that if you think you are in over your head and need help, not someone to rescue you, but someone to come fight beside you, you can use. Agreed?" He was trying very hard to stay calm and use his best persuasive skills since she always seemed to best him there as well.

"Fine. The word is Gondomar. Do you know who Gondomar is?" She had on what he had begun to think of as her 'teacher voice' which meant she was about to fill in his obviously lacking Ivy League education. Apparently Switzerland and Oxford provided a much broader and deeper education.

"Of course not, but I'm sure you are going to tell me, my literature Queen."

"It's from _A Game at Chess_ by Thomas Middleton. Gondomar is the Black Knight, the Ambassador from the Black King to the White House. It's all allegorical. Gondomar had an embarrassing physical problem having to do with a pain in his ass. Sort of like you, Bruce." Alfred snorted, while Alina just looked out the window, affecting disinterest.

"Alfred, don't forget who pays you. And you Alina…" He had no idea what to say to her.

"Do I get paid Master Wayne? Hmm, that is news. I think I will take my payment out in Alina's wit. It is so much more fun."

"I am being ganged up on by the literary crowd. What the hell am I doing hanging out here? I'd do better at The Fight Club."

"So would I. But, Rule #1, nobody talks about the Fight Club." Alina's voice flowed like silk all over him, effectively ending the argument and forcing him to endure yet another erection that would probably last for hours. He idly wondered if it could injure something having so many unfulfilled hard-ons in the course of a day.

Alina had caught that thought and warned him, "_An erection lasting more than 4 hours, you should contact your doctor. It can permanently injure the penile tissues. I suppose if you weren't such a pain in the ass so often, I could go down on you every few hours to relieve your discomfort."_

Bruce gasped and then choked at her response to reading his mind. "_I am going to fuck you blind tonight. You torture me all day long. I am going to have you all night long."_ He then took a very long drink of water.

Alina giggled, _"Until Batman gets called out."_

"_I don't care if the whole damn city burns to the ground, Batman stays home tonight."_

Alina just smiled at him teasingly and got out of the car since they had finally arrived at Arkham. She took some quick, but quite beautiful in a creepy sort of way pictures of the location. Bruce and Alina met Commissioner Gordon at the visitor's desk. All three of them were searched, and Alina's camera bag searched as well. Everything was fine except the strap she used to carry the camera which could be used against her. She acknowledged the possibility and knew she would be hampered having to carry the camera the whole time.

The first up was the Joker. He had been enthusiastic at having a famous photographer take his portrait for a national magazine. His ego was enormous, as she had found most criminals were. Commissioner Gordon told her of the agreement they had made, such as it was. He was moved into a room with a chair screwed to the floor, and a window that didn't open. He was forbidden to touch Alina and was to listen to her instructions to get the best shots. She would also be talking with him the whole time, taping it in the viewing room, to collect comments for her little 'blurb' about him to go with the pictures. Commissioner Gordon would be in the viewing room and several guards would be outside the door. Alina nodded her head, gave Bruce a quick kiss, and entered the room.

Even though she had seen pictures before of the Joker, she was taken aback by the makeup and the way he had chosen to hide his scars. They looked at each other curiously at first, and then she saw the familiar heat in his eyes. He must be desperate to go for her dressed like this, unless combat boots and fatigues did it for him.

"My name is Alina Witter. You can call me Alina. What would you prefer me to call you?"

"You can call me anything you want, just call me." He sang the words to the song to her and then answered her seriously. "Baby, you can call me The Joker."

"Alright, Joker. But you may _not_ call me Baby." Her voice was soft but deadly if you listened for it. Joker was too caught up in his own private fantasies to have caught her voice change.

"Why don't we start with the chair? Please sit in it as one might normally and then we will do some where you sit backwards in it."

Alina actually found Joker to be quite cooperative. The bulge in his pants might prove to be a problem. She had no doubt that Bruce had noticed the Joker's arousal and was furious about it. She also knew he would not take his eyes off the room.

"How did you get those scars you cover up with paint?"

He sat in the chair, deciding if, or even how to answer. "My father did it. Not to make me smile more as I sometimes tell people, but more likely because he simply wanted to ruin my face. I was once very good looking, my father jealous and probably mad, wanted to destroy that."

Alina sensed his mind briefly and knew this was truth. "I'm sorry."

As he turned in the chair with his legs spread around the back, a position men often take in chairs for some unknown reason, his erection was more pronounced. He spoke back to her very respectfully. "I suppose there isn't much else to say but 'I'm sorry' is there? Would you take some photographs of me without my makeup on?"

"Can you tell me why?"

"I have two faces, just like Two-Faced Harvey Dent. I think you should see the other face."

She had him in various positions around with window catching the light to frame his face differently.

"Are you a different persona, a different man, without your makeup?"

"Maybe I am even more dangerous because people are unsuspecting. Or maybe I am more normal because I look and feel more normal. Maybe you would find me more attractive if you could glimpse of my face before the scars."

"Is that important to you? That you look and feel normal or that I find you attractive?"

"I am not sure. Surely you are a beautiful woman despite your attempt to be less than you are. I suppose someone thought it would make you safer. Instead it just intrigues me more. As for if it matters to me that you find me attractive, it would make sense as an alpha male to want you to find me attractive as I so obviously do you." He motioned theatrically to his very apparent erection.

"We are done here, but I will come back after photographing Two-Face. Will you be ready to be regular guy Joker by then?"

"I suppose I will have to."

She nodded at him and backed away towards the door, and with a knock on the door, the guard let her leave.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Chapter 10**

* * *

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 10**

_Recommended at the price_

_Insatiable an appetite_

_Wanna try?_

_Killer Queen, Queen_

Alina entered a similar room where Two-Faced Harvey Dent sat, waiting patiently apparently, but Alina sensed a bruised ego that he had been kept waiting.

"Good morning. My name is Alina Witter. I am a photographer. You can call me Alina. What would you like for me to call you?"

"Two-Face is fine. What have you photographed?"

"In general or for this project?" She had been prepared for Dent's facial destruction, so she did not respond to that grotesque damage. She started walking around him taking shots. He was an interesting man and his intelligence still shone through his obvious insanity. That was possibly the Jokers greatest crime, sending a fragile, damaged, yet still sane Dent into the realms of insanity for his own amusement.

"For this project, faces of good and evil. I'm guessing I'm going to fall on the evil side."

"Can you sit in the chair? Good thank you. Where do you think should fall?"

"Well, let's see. We will flip a coin. We make our own luck you know." She got a terrific shot of both sides of his face with the coin in the air. That was probably the single best shot she would get. But she would continue.

"What do you mean by that…we make our own luck? How do you make your own luck if you leave it up to the chance of a coin toss?"

Harvey laughed, tossing the coin to her. She looked at it closely seeing the two headed coin. She smiled at him and tossed it back. "Is that where Two-Faced came from as well?"

"No, Two-Face came from my days in internal affairs. That's what the cops used to call me. But there was, is, a lot of corruption in the police force. It makes for easy pickings for the criminals. Batman can't fight everyone forever. Alone."

"You were always called the White Knight, before the accident. You were the hero of Gotham, not Batman. What made you give that up?"

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain."

"So you were a hero, the White Knight of Gotham, almost single handedly cleaning up the mess it had become, and now you are a villain locked up here. What happened?"

Two-Faces voice got very low and very sad. "Rachel. Rachel happened. I loved her, she agreed to marry me, and I told her everything was going to be alright even though I knew it wouldn't be. One of us would die, Batman couldn't save us both. He should have saved Rachel, and he didn't. I will never forgive him for that."

"Maybe he will never forgive himself, Mr. Dent." Alina sighed sadly. "I think there is probably enough regret to go around. Thank you for your patience today. I think we got some wonderful shots." While she didn't feel threatened by Two-Face, she did not turn her back to him as she left either.

Commissioner Gordon and Bruce accompanied her back to the room that held the Joker. She could feel the overwhelming grief coming off of Bruce over what he had overheard about Two-Face, Rachel, and Batman. _"You tried to save her baby. The Joker played a cruel joke, or maybe created a cruel twist of fate, that you got caught in. You loved her, we both know that, and you would have brought time to a halt if that was within your power to save her once you realized what had happened. Please keep it together until we get home. I need your present with me now. You can grieve again for Rachel at home, alone or with me. Whatever you need."_

She sighed and looked at Commissioner Gordon pulling attention away from Bruce. She straightened her shoulders, smiled weakly at him, "This has taken more out of me than I thought. So much about what has happened to Gotham, once my beloved home, is due to what these two men have done, good and bad. I feel wrung out, which is dangerous for them and dangerous for me. I will go now back into the lion's den and finish the piece on Joker. Hopefully it will not take long." Gordon nodded his head at her as she picked up her camera to leave. Bruce grabbed her by the shoulder pulling her to him. He kissed her thoroughly and deeply, his longing and need for her apparent.

"Be safe. Remember the word."

She nodded, put her game face on and entered Joker's holding room.

"I'm back, Joker. And…here…we…go."

Joker turned to face Alina without his makeup on. She gave no reaction at all, although it was a startling change. She walked up closer, but not too close, and could see the scars. For the most part though, he looked fairly normal.

She started snapping pictures up close and further away. She asked him, "How do you see yourself when you are without your makeup?"

"Mostly normal, but I am more interested in how you see me."

She laughed, "That is a trap I have no desire to fall into. What I think or do not think is of no consequence. I only care about how you see yourself."

"I think that I am easier on the eyes without my clown mask. I think that if I so chose, I could seduce a woman easier than with my crazy face. Can I seduce you?"

Alina smirked again, a dangerous smirk and didn't take her eye off the camera lens. "You could not."

"Because of my scars? I am certainly amply endowed as you can tell."

"Touch yourself again like that and this shoot is over." Her voice was ice cold.

"I like a woman who takes power. If not my scars, and not because I am not endowed enough, why would you not take me as a lover?"

She sensed his thoughts and he was quite coherent, and he truly wanted to know.

"Once I answer this question, our shoot is over. Understood?"

"Perfectly."

"I have a lover. And I do not ever get involved with men, crazy or not, who just want to watch the world burn." She turned away from him to place her camera in her bag, knowing he would approach her.

The Joker was close enough to her for her to feel his breath on her neck. If he had not been so caught up in his fantasy, he would have realized Alina was on high alert to his presence. He mistakenly read it as attraction. He reached his arm around her frozen body to brush her breast, while saying to her, "We could both sit and watch the world burn, anywhere in the world."

Before he had finished his sentence she had grabbed his arm flipping him backwards breaking his arm in three different places, and kneecapping him going down. Gordon and Bruce both were shocked at her speed. Gordon wanted to interfere to protect her, but Bruce held him back. "If she needs help, she will call for it." Joker was laughing and screaming in pain at the same time. He had been bested by a girl. He found that highly amusing and only made his desire for her more intense.

Alina took one army boot and placed it squarely on his annoying erection, which definitely stopped his laughter. She then took her other boot and placed it on his throat.

"Don't try to talk Joker. Another pound of pressure from by boot on your throat will kill you. Oh, so sad. So let me talk. I wasn't sure if you and Harvey Dent rated on the scale of worldwide evil. After all, I have interviewed and photographed truly formidable evil. I think you are crazy, but I also think you have your lucid moments, particularly when you are without your makeup. You drove Harvey Dent insane, for your own amusement, and in that instance you are evil. And you kill and cut without hesitation or reason. Again, evil. But mostly, you are just a genuine pain in the ass, stir the pot, throw in a little chaos, watch the city burn for no other purpose than your own amusement. So, I guess even if Gotham is a small part of the worldwide picture, I think you are evil and it is too bad Batman didn't kill you when he had the chance. You have something to say apparently, so I will let up on the pressure on your throat and increase the pressure on that not very impressive erection. Try to move and I will kill you before the guard can get it here. Understood?"

Joker nodded his head and she let up slightly. He knew he was a dead man if he tried anything. "Who are you to decide if I am evil or not? And if Batman should have killed me then, why don't you do it now?"

"Oh I grow tired of this conversation. You were so much more interesting when you were honest and curious. It is not for me to decide if you are evil or are not. That has already been decided. As for killing you, Batman lives by his own code. It is not for me to judge that either. I have a somewhat different code, perhaps you have noticed. If I didn't already have very vigorous and lengthy plans for the evening, I might have to kill you in self defense. But then you know how it is, I would get arrested, at least for a few hours, lots of paperwork, that sort of thing. And you know how bothersome those lawyers are. So if it is just the same to you, I'll catch you on the flipside and go home to my significantly more worthy pursuits." She moved her eyes to his flattened and no doubt painful erection and back to his eyes, her meaning clear. "I am going to step off of you now. You so much as twitch an eye lid, I'll kneecap your remaining knee, and you will certainly never walk again. I'm going then to call for the guard and leave. You will never see me again. I had so hoped that our time together would be spent more civilly, but I suppose that was asking too much."

Within two minutes Gordon, Alina and Bruce were walking down the hall. Gordon had ordered that the Joker be left in his room, regardless of his injuries, until Ms. Witter was out of the building and off the premises. Gordon was sweating bullets. "I can't believe what I just saw. You are amazing. You're like Batman. I wish you had just killed him though. Things would be much easier."

"It might have been easier for you perhaps, Commissioner, but not for me. And as flattering as it is to be compared to Batman, I am just a woman who had to learn to protect herself the hard way. Thank you for making these arrangements. I do believe I got some excellent photographs. Take care, Commissioner."

Alfred opened the door and Alina slid over as Bruce entered the car. Bruce put his arms around her and embraced her.

"Alfred, you should have seen her with the Joker. Joker wanted pictures with and without his makeup. The second visit, he actually was trying to seduce Alina and groped her. She had him flipped backwards, his arm broken in three places and kneecapped before he hit the ground."

"Oh please. You exaggerate. He had hit the ground by the final break."

"Oh, ok like that makes a big difference. Then she stands with one boot on the hard-on he'd had for her all morning, flattening it which must have been excruciating. She puts her other boot on his throat which of course with the right amount of weight would crush his trachea and kill him. It was all very impressive."

Alfred looked surprised and pleased, "Perhaps Master Wayne could take some lessons, particularly the one about not being afraid to kill the bad guy."

Bruce rolled his eyes and just sighed. "Would you have killed him if you didn't have plans tonight? I liked the way you talked about those plans too."

"Kill him for groping me? No. Kill him in an insane asylum for being evil. No. If he arranges to get out, yes. I meant what I said about him. The man just wants to watch the world burn for no other reason than his own amusement. He deserves to die. I know you feel differently about that. If you wouldn't kill him for killing Rachel, then you won't kill him for anything. You'll just torture yourself for not saving her, when Joker was the cause of that not you. And the Joker killed her. And the Joker ruined Harvey Dent, the man you could have handed over the mantle to so you didn't have to be Batman anymore. I have a line of what I will and will not do. So do you. Mine is just higher up the X-axis then yours. And I'm getting the sense I don't have those plans tonight anymore."

Bruce was silent and then looked out the window. Alfred softly, but loud enough to be heard in the silent car repeated something Alina had said, something he had told Bruce in the thick of the Joker crisis. "Some men just want to see the world burn."

They drove the rest of the way home in silence. Bruce's mind was closed to hers, but she left hers open just in case. It was a long 30 minute drive.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Chapter 11**

* * *

A/N: For those serious Batman fans out there, I am not even attempting at writing from canon, I have never read a comic book, I have seen the movies, although Dark Knight is the first one to actually move me beyond special effects and into interest in the character (although Val Kilmer was hot)...so basically I'm making it up as I go using the characters as I see them. I don't apologize for the philosophy discussions, and maybe others think different decisions would be made. I'm just exploring some aspects of good and evil, darkness and doubt that make up our lives, and turning it into a "so what would you do in that situation?" conversation. I hope you are enjoying it. Review if you can. I read and respond to them. I appreciate those of you who have put the story on your alerts and favorites. The story earns its M rating in the next chapter. And...here...we...go!

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 11**

_It's so easy, but I can't do it_

_It's so risky, but I gotta chance it_

_So funny, there's nothing to laugh about_

_My money, that's all you wanna talk about_

_I can see what you want me to be_

_But that's not true_

_In the Lap of the Gods…Revisited, Queen_

Alfred left Alina and Bruce at the front steps of the mansion. He sadly watched as they despairingly, and seeming overwhelmed, climbed the stairs and entered the house. They didn't speak, and it was almost as if Alina's accurate assessment that if Batman would not kill Joker for Rachel, he would not kill at all, had severed their strengthening bond. Alfred knew she was absolutely correct, and it was perhaps something Master Wayne had not actually been willing to face so directly. He sighed and went to park the Rolls and get lunch ready, although he was sure that Bruce would not eat, and perhaps not Alina either.

Bruce disappeared to somewhere in the giant expanse of mansion. Alina went to her room to shower and remove the grime and filth she had been wallowing in all morning. Before she hit the shower, she began to download the photographs and start the printing. She had one of the finest photo printers with her to actually print the portraits as they would look in the magazine. She would do color correction and other editing later, but for now she wanted to see what she had to work with. She showered, finding herself crying once again, the shower washing her tears away. She had wounded Bruce, possibly irretrievably, pointing out what he did or did not do with the death of Rachel. His line was much lower than hers, and that made him a better person than her, but her higher line made her more effective. But how would Gotham respond to a vigilante heroine willing to kill? And could Batman live with the difference?

She dressed in a bikini and short denim shorts, intending to spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool. She grabbed the prints off the computer, taking them with her to the kitchen for something to eat. While she was terribly afraid and disturbed about Bruce and what she might have done, she still found herself hungry. Juice and a croissant were fine for most days, but today had been unusually traumatic and she needed to eat. Alfred was sitting at the table, looking at her photographs drinking some tea.

Alina smiled at the sight and teased, "Some of those pictures cause you to lose your appetite Alfred?"

"Ah, Alina. I was hoping you might join me. These photographs are stunning. They are like nothing I have ever seen before. Is this tribal man, must be someplace in Africa, really standing behind people he buried in a line? Their heads are just above the sand. They must have died terribly in the heat."

"He was another truly evil man. Those men had allegedly stolen food for their families, and they were killed for it. Part of the horror is that not only were they buried to their necks alive, but their heads were covered in something like honey, attracting ants to eat them while they still lived. I fortunately was not there for that part."

"Alina how can, how could you endure such horror? The pictures depict a level of inhumanity that even I was unaware existed."

Alina swallowed her bite of sandwich, took a drink of water, and then responded to Alfred, "I remember that you, at one time, traveled the world fighting bad men as well. You have seen your share of evil Alfred. And while you are not out there fighting alongside Batman, you see the impact of the evil he faces every time he returns. You sew him up, you counsel him, you believe in him and makes sure he believes in himself. I am afraid I undid some of that today. He still loves Rachel and he still grieves over not saving her. My blunder about not killing Joker may crush whatever progress I had made with him."

"Alina, my dear child, it was something he needed to hear, and he needed to hear it from you. He is so resolute in not killing directly, trying so hard not to be a vigilante, but instead a force for good, he has perhaps lost sight that as a force for good he perhaps should have killed Joker. Joker will remain a threat to Gotham, to Batman, and now certainly to you until he is dead. If anything were to happen to you, he would be lost completely."

"How do you know that Alfred? His mind is closed to me now. He may wish me away because I force him to look at hard truths. That is what I was sent here for. He may not love me, and he may not want to share my bed, but I will do what I was sent to do. He can do amazing things already, but he can be better, he can be a saner, happier man. He is a better man than I could ever be… ok, that didn't come out right… because he refuses to kill, to take a life. That is a good thing. I am much less reluctant, that makes it a much more slippery slope for me. Obviously, refusing and being reluctant are two different things. One is not helpful and causes a danger to the city as a whole and individuals as well, and one takes a real evaluation of your belief set and where your line crosses that X-axis. If refusal to kill regardless is at point (0,0), then where does one fall on the reluctance scale?"

Bruce's voice came from behind her as he crossed through the doors, "You are quite the philosopher aren't you Alina? Even throw a little math in there to help make the point." His voice was angry and his mind was pained. "Should I have killed the Joker? Put us all out of our misery? As you point out, it is only a matter of time before he breaks out of Arkham. It is hardly a high security institute for the likes of him. He knows who you are, and can easily find you. He will come for you, and probably not kill you first, but rape, torture, and disfigure you certainly. Because I love you and did not kill him when I had the chance, will I have your death on my conscience as well as Rachel's and Harvey Dent's?"

Alina turned briefly away from Bruce's anger, pain, and fear that were whipping at her, even through her mind shields. "Alfred thank you for the sandwich. I'll just grab a couple bottled waters and we'll be out by the pool."

She stood from the table, taking the printed proofs with her along with the bottled waters, took Bruce's hand and led him out the kitchen door, through the winding first floor and out to the pool. She chose a huge teak bed lounger with an extra thick cushion and sat on it, bringing Bruce to lie beside her. He was very anxious, angry, frustrated and terrified of losing her. She could feel the emotions even without going into his mind. She turned to face him on her side and he had taken off his shirt and turned to face her on his side.

Surprising Bruce, Alina started to sing. He was expecting her seduction voice, or an argument, or something else, but certainly not for her to start to sing. She was singing softly, stroking his face, neck, and arms very slowly while she never took her eyes off of him. And she could actually sing, even from the sideways lying down position.

"_You could say I lost my faith in science and progress  
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church  
You could say I lost my sense of direction  
You could say all of this and worse but_

_If I ever lose my faith in you  
There'd be nothing left for me to do_

_Some would say I was a lost woman in a lost world  
You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV  
You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians  
They all seemed like game show hosts to me_

_If I ever lose my faith in you  
There'd be nothing left for me to do_

_I could be lost inside their lies without a trace  
But every time I close my eyes I see your face_

_I never saw no miracle of science  
That didn't go from a blessing to a curse  
I never saw no military solution  
That didn't always end up as something worse but  
Let me say this first_

_If I ever lose my faith in you  
There'd be nothing left for me to do"_

_If I Ever Lost My Faith in You, Sting_

When she finished, he was completely relaxed and his fear and anxiety and anger were no longer whipping at her mind and buffeting her body. She gave him a slight smile which he returned.

"I didn't know you could sing," he whispered, not wanting to break the mood.

She answered him very softly back, "There is a lot you don't know about me Bruce. You didn't really know me when we were kids, even though I was over here every day. You don't know me now. I knew you as a kid because even though you never realized it, my whole world at the time revolved around you. I paid attention, I listened, I watched, I could read your mind. I only know you now because you are such a public figure, both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman, and because I can read your mind. I mean what I sang to you, 'If I ever lose my faith in you, There'd be nothing left for me to do.' Do you want to talk about what you were so angry and frightened about earlier?"

"I don't know Alina. I feel so much better now. You know just how to relax me and take away all those bad feelings. If we start talking about it, they might come back."

"They might, but do you really think you are going to get all twisted up like you were lying here beside me? If we don't talk about them, those feelings and fears will be unspoken but still between us and I don't want that. I don't want you coming into my bed with unresolved difficult and complex issues between us."

Bruce took a deep breath, running his fingers through her almost dry hair, that floral scent she always wore surrounding him. "Ok. I got angry and shut you out earlier today because you thought I should have killed Joker over Rachel. And that is just not the way I think. And I really didn't want to hear that if I wouldn't kill Joker over his killing her, then I would not kill under any circumstances. Because that isn't true, I just hadn't realized it. You were right when you were talking to Alfred, when you questioned if Batman would kill Joker when he gets out if he took you. And in my mind, the only answer I keep coming up with is that yes, absolutely without hesitation. I have been unyielding in my determination not to kill. But I guess I would under certain circumstances. I just don't understand why I didn't when he killed Rachel. I was devastated. I had planned to marry her, and she was going to wait for me until Batman could stand down, but apparently, listening to Two-Face today, she had already agreed to marry him and just hadn't told me yet. I know he was telling the truth too. I'm not as good as you are at it yet, but I pulled the truth from his thoughts."

Alina stretched her arm out to stroke his troubled brow. "I'm sorry you didn't know. That was a terrible way to find out. Bruce you are still not over Rachel, not loving her, not her death. I'm not sure where that leaves us. But let's table that discussion for now, and stay on topic. You know what I realized today after you disappeared and I thought that was that with us? That line I keep talking about, the math equation you snarled at, yours is lower than mine, which truly makes you a better person. Mine is higher, which might make me more effective, but certainly not a good person and on a slippery slope indeed. And can Bruce Wayne and Batman live with a woman and a White Queen that is perhaps not quite as upstanding as the Dark Knight, less worthy of hero status? And if Gotham gives Batman such an impossibly difficult time, even though he is doing good, being the hero they need, is Gotham ready for a truly vigilante heroine who is willing to kill? I will kill Joker if he escapes, because his only purpose in life is to destroy, and he may come after me first. He does not even have to be doing something wrong or evil. I would kill him as a preventative measure. I suppose if I am caught, I would go to jail and be vilified in the streets. Funny the way Gotham treats their heroes. How do you feel about that?" Her voice was loaded with apology and shame and yet still clarity of purpose.

"I think that maybe you were sent to me because we both have to be responsible for balancing the other. You move me off of the refusal line and I keep you from sliding down that slippery slope of decreasing reluctance. You may have to race me to kill Joker if he escapes though." Alina smiled at his little joke. Things were definitely getting better. "And as far as getting caught, you haven't been so far, you usually kill from far away, and we have billions and billions of dollars between us. We can bankrupt the whole city if they seriously would plan to prosecute, which I don't think they would, either one of us. We need to get you equipped though. I'll have to get Lucius to come to the mansion. We have to minimize your time at Wayne Enterprises. Maybe we can make you a white costume that changes like a chameleon against different backgrounds. And all the other equipment, we have a lot to do."

"I know Special Forces have been using material that adapts to the environment. That is a really good idea. White at night would show up like fireworks on the Fourth of July. So are we good? Now that your brain is off working on costuming and equipment, I'm sensing all that angst and fear and frustration is gone now."

"Yeah, we've talked through it all. I'm good with where we are. I will always fear for you just as you fear for me, but I've been testing you the whole time you've been here, and your display with Joker cinched it. You are no damsel in distress. What we haven't talked about is Rachel."

"You know, baby. I'm kind of talked and thought out for now. Can we just nap for a while before we tackle that one? And I still haven't gotten to look at my proofs!" Alina clearly did not want to have this discussion. This time it was her fear and frustration that buffeted Bruce's mind.

"Alina, there really isn't that much to talk about, so let me just say a few things to put your mind at rest, because it clearly isn't right now. I did love Rachel. You have known that since high school. I planned to marry her at one point in time, which apparently was not reciprocated. She died in a terrible situation that I will regret always, regardless of fault. But that is all in the past Alina. I love you. I am utterly and completely in love with you. You are my other half, you complete me. I will not give you up under any circumstances. And I want to have children with you. As soon as you get pregnant, the Bat suit gets hung up, as of course does the Queen. Do you need to hear anything else? Was I clear?"

"Are you still planning on our evening together?"

Bruce laughed, a very sexual and intimate laugh. His mind sent her many images rapid fire of what he planned for the night. She was breathless when he was done, kissed him fiercely, gracefully got up from the lounge bed, dropping her shorts on the ground. And in her sex filled voice she softly said, "I think I need a cold shower after that, but the pool will do. What about you baby?" She caressed his evident hard-on. Bruce laughed again and followed her into the pool where they got started preparing for their evening activities.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Chapter 12**

* * *

A /N: Thank you to the so many of you who have added this story to your favorites and alert lists. Reviews are always appreciated! Enjoy!

**White Queen to Black Knight**

**Chapter 12**

_It_ _'_ _s the way you love me  
It_ _'_ _s a feeling like this  
It_ _'_ _s centrifugal motion  
Its perpetual bliss_

_It's that pivotal moment  
It's impossible  
This kiss, this kiss (Unstoppable)  
This kiss, this kiss _

_Cinderella said to Snow White  
How does love get so off course  
All I wanted was a white knight  
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse _

_Ride me off into the sunset  
Baby, I'm forever yours _

_This Kiss, Faith Hill_

Bruce Wayne and Alina Witter played like the children they once were in the pool that sunny afternoon. Bruce actually could not even remember ever being in the pool. His life had always been so singularly focused on his quest he had left no room for love, or fun, or just goofing around. Alina got tired and pulled out one of the sleeper floats and laid on it while he placed his head beside her and floated. The sun made them temporarily lazy but they still talked quietly about nothing and everything. He told her he couldn't remember ever using the pool he had always been so busy with all the other things he had filled his life with.

"You never take any time for yourself Bruce. I hope I can convince you to change that. You will be so much happier having more than a single minded pursuit that is desperate and frustrating, a never ending quest can never be realized. It is like chasing the Holy Grail. No matter how hard you fight, there will always be crime, there will always be evil, there will always be corruption. God gave us free will and turned humanity loose on itself, sat back and watched people both destroy and love each other. It's like a cosmic social experiment. What we see around us is the outcome. We both believe, or at least try to believe, that good trumps evil eventually. But you cannot do it single handedly. It is not your sole responsibility, as Bruce Wayne or Batman."

"And what about you Alina? Looking at your pictures, you have surely seen the most horrific abuses one human can put upon another. Do you really believe good trumps evil? You said the first day you were here that it was hard to find enough good people to put in your collection. If that is true, does good truly trump evil? And what will you do when this piece, this _masterpiece_ is finished?"

"I think that I found the most extreme in evil, but there are thousands, maybe millions atrocities committed every day across the world. What I need to find to balance the scales are those soldiers fighting on the front lines, pulling their buddies out of burning humvees or going through the door first in case of bombs or guns on the other side or a hundred different heroic acts that I learned of when I was there, or aid workers in Ethiopia or the Sudan risking their lives every moment to bring food and medicine to the villages there, or the guy who having his own boat full with his family in the tragedy of Katrina made room for the drowning man and his child to take them to whatever safety they could find. I could find thousands of heroes, both alive and posthumously from 9/11, a seemingly forgotten tragedy of infinite proportions. There is good out there Bruce, we just have to look for it. The news sure as hell doesn't report it, beyond the occasional 'dog saved by motorist' story. While I traveled I did get pictures and stories of the aid workers and Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers. They are all heroes. I won't have to travel there again, thank God and bless the people who choose to be there or are there because that is where they are ordered to be. But I still have more to find to balance the scales. Maybe you can go with me. Maybe Batman or Bruce Wayne will choose to be photographed. After this piece is finished, it has been so consuming, I will just do the celebrity scene, if I photograph at all. Celebrity photography is probably not as gruesome as what I have seen, but it might be just as dangerous." She laughed at the thought. "And I can also write Bruce. I don't have a decent computer for it now, but my agent and publisher are clamoring for my next book, and sadly I have no idea what to write about."

"You could write about two fictional characters fighting good and evil and struggling with the consequences. I like the whole good vs. evil, God and free will philosophy stuff. There is a lot you could do with that."

"The characters dress up in rubber costumes, or titanium or whatever it is, fight crime with cool gadgets and cars. Sounds like a comic book."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it? But in this story they have lots of sex, and that is definitely not the stuff of comic books, at least not most comic books. Especially not the way you write sex. I read one of your books. I do read occasionally."

"My books are not high art, Bruce. When Alfred said to 'crack a book now and then' I don't think he was talking about my stuff. And as far as sex in comic books, there was this one based on The Story of O that was pretty hot, very hot, but probably not the usual comic book scene."

"So they have lots of sex. There is lots of practice fighting and grappling that turns into sweaty sex. And they agree on virtually nothing except sex."

"Bruce, I got the sex part. They'll have lots and lots of it. They'll have completely shameless sex in every room of their gigantic mansion driving their patient and indulgent butler crazy, and in every car, except the Lamborghini. It's too small. And in the office building. And in the Batmobile."

Bruce laughed. "You think the Lamborghini is too small? The Batmobile would be impossible. I don't even think two people could fit."

"That just means we would have to get creative." They both got quiet knowing what was coming but enjoying just playing with each other. It had been so long since either of them had had someone to be whimsical with. Bruce had never even considered the possibility, or known what it felt like, and he liked it. He liked it a lot, and just enjoyed the moment. Alina quietly asked him a more serious question. "So Bruce, what will you do when you hang up Batman's mantle? You already have people running your company. Your foundation could use some attention."

"Our children will need our attention. The Black Knight retires when the White Queen has their little pawn."

Alina giggled at that and leaned forward to kiss him. "I am not on any birth control, Bruce. Unless you plan on using condoms, which by the way, I hate, I could be pregnant soon. Are you really ready for that?"

"Yes, I'm ready. I always used condoms before but it will be a relief not to. Why do you hate them so much?"

"I want to feel you explode inside me. I want to feel our fluids mix. I don't get that with condoms. And Bruce there is something else you should know. That school in Switzerland… it was a spy school. It was where I learned martial arts, fencing, guns, knives, the voice that makes you hard without fail, breaking into computers, all that stuff spies do. It is also where I learned sex."

Bruce looked at her truly confused, so she continued. "I was a virgin when I left here. I dated everyone and had sex with no one. I only wanted you and you only wanted Rachel. So part of my training in Switzerland prepared me for the Himalayas and part of it prepared me to seduce a man, to make love, to fuck."

He was curious now. "In some ways they taught you to be a courtesan. How?"

"I'm glad you didn't say whore, because that was not the intent. The men that were there, very well endowed for the most part, but not all and that was also part of the training, were our teachers and were the best of the best in lovemaking. I was taught to give and take pleasure. Most people never learn those skills, except by experimentation and often years of practice. Most men, despite television and movies, don't know how to give a good, even a great orgasm to a woman. Most women don't know how to respond. Most women stumble into how to give head. I was taught how to give it the best, most incredible way. There was no position, no opening, no possibility we were not taught. Bondage and S&amp;M were not part of the package however. Everything was taught lovingly, probably more so for me because all the men desperately wanted to please me. But what you really need to know Bruce is that there has been no one since. No rapes, and no voluntary interactions of any kind. Until you kissed me on the dojo that day, I had not kissed anyone since Switzerland."

"So you went through all of that, learned all those skills, and never used them? Why?"

"Bruce, I have used all those skills except the actual sexual act part. How do you think I survived the Himalayas? Or the villages of good people and monsters? Or how I beat you in the dojo? Or how I broke the Joker's body? Or have the voice you crave to hear? I learned all that there. I never had sex with anyone because I always hoped it would be you. It has been almost 8 years."

"You are virtually a virgin, Alina."

"I guess so, if you look at in terms of time. In terms of experience, I am definitely not. Are you ok with that?"

Bruce flipped her off the float, laughing. "Baby I am better than ok with it." He gently took her hand and pressed it to his rock hard staff. He always seemed to be hard, but her story, the possibilities excited him even more.

Alina rubbed him, applying just enough pressure, making him moan. She was standing very close to him, but far enough away to keep her hand moving. "Don't you think it is time to do something about this?"

"Right here, out in the open? I thought we would wait till later."

"I think we can go all night long baby. We can just start now. The only person around is Alfred, and at best he would be discrete and at worst he will tease us. I want you Bruce. My body has been perpetually ready for you since the first day I was back."

Bruce and Batman had also been waiting and ready. Her invitation was all it took to shake him into action. Bruce grabbed and pulled her to him, none to gently. He rapidly untied her string bikini until she was naked before him, the water protecting her body from exposure to other eyes. "God you are beautiful. I cannot touch you enough. I'm full of raw need for you. And it isn't just because I've been hard for you for days on end. I don't just want you, I need every part of you, I need your mind, your body, your heart. I would kill anyone who touched you, _even touched you Alina_! You didn't see it earlier, but when Joker touched you I almost broke the glass to hurt him? Kill him? I'm not sure what I was going to do then. But I know now Alina. I feel predatory and possessive more than I ever thought possible."

Alina lightly wrapped her legs around him, holding his eyes, letting him slip into her mind, she slipped into his. She wrapped her toes beyond the elastic waist his shorts had and slowly slipped them off of him while he waited, stunned somewhat at how erotic the whole situation was. He had had women before, more than he cared to acknowledge, but there was never anyone like Alina. They had only been reunited for a few days, but the slipping in and out of minds, the arguments and challenges, the completeness of being with her, she was it and he was in love, more than he could ever have imagined. After he stepped out of his shorts leaving them at the bottom of the pool, Alina wrapped her legs tighter around him.

"I want you to feel that way, Bruce. I want you to possess me, mind and body. I am yours completely. Just don't break me. Don't break my heart. I couldn't take it. Getting killed as Batman would break me completely." Her teasing voice came back, "Water is not very conducive to intercourse, but it makes an excellent pre-cursor to it. I think you should be kissing me now Bruce. I'm already rubbing against you. You and I both know we could just skip the preliminaries, but show me what you got baby before we get to the big bang."

He fisted his hand in her long hair, pulling downward so her face was upward looking at him. His mind spoke to her as he held her impossibly close, _"You are mine. No one else can or will ever have you. I am going to fill you every possible way. You will forever be marked as mine. There is no going back, Alina. I love you."_

Tears filled her eyes at hearing those words from him. His mouth came crashing down on hers, pushing himself into her opening mouth, forcing her to take him. Their tongues dueled and sucked and explored aggressively. She knew Batman had come out to play, but she could meet him every step of the way. He lifted her up out of the water, bringing her breasts to his mouth. His mouth took a nipple and started to draw on it, pulling and stretching her until it was painful, but even the pain was shooting excitement through her body flooding her channel with her liquid. He moved them back against the pool stairs setting her carefully on the top step where he could reach both nipples, sucking, pulling it into his mouth as if he was trying to swallow her whole breast. She moaned at the pain and pleasure sensation, which brought his fingers to her channel, inserting one and then two into her slick channel. She was right about the water, she was not wet enough to take him easily, and he wasn't ready to take her anyway. He had more he needed from her. Inserting a third finger and pumping powerfully into her he felt her first orgasm tremble down his fingers. She was very responsive. She moaned as the tremors shook her body and automatically pulled him closer. He began kissing her again while he lifted her completely out of the water and laid her on the tile surrounding the pool. He raised himself up over her on his elbows and arms, his rock hard dick lined up with her center, but just pressed against her, so long he reached her abdomen. She started thrusting against him while he kissed her deeply. He laughed a very deep very aroused laugh and she opened her eyes. "Not yet baby. I am not nearly through with you. Be patient."

She went into his mind, trying not to whine but she was so ready she could hardly help it, _"Now Bruce, now. I can't wait. I'm right there. Please."_

He just smiled at her, teasing and smug, and slid down her body. _"You've had one orgasm already. There are so many more to come, baby."_

_"I saw that smug smile. You get too smug I might have to hurt you,"_ she teased.

_"You don't want to hurt me, Alina. You want me to finish what we started, which I absolutely intend to do."_

He reached the opening of her core and spread her wet lips. He started licking her sweetness, the roughness of his tongue making her moan again. His thumb easily found her swollen clit and started rubbing circles while his tongue kept licking, like a cat licking the last of the milk from a bowl. He pointed his tongue and pierced the depth of her channel going as far as he could into her. He continued moving his tongue in and out as his thumb increased its pressure. He could feel her right on the edge and he was going to leave her there for a bit, letting the tension build until she screamed when she came. He kept speeding up and slowing down on her clit, increasing and decreasing the pressure. She started to thrash and beg for him to give her release, but he refused. He kept his thumb where it was and moved his body up to her mouth, ravaging her mouth again, feeding her own liquid to her, letting her taste herself. He moved over to that little sensitive place behind her ear he had found before, and stroking it with his tongue while she started bucking again, desperate for him to enter her. He slid down further sucking on her breasts, more gently this time and then surprising her by twisting her nipples, sending another rush of fluid through. He slid down further licking and sucking her, making marks all over her body. He finally reached her core again and licked at the latest fluid that had poured out of her. She'd had at least three, maybe four orgasms, and he didn't think he could wait any longer. He slid his body up hers, this time positioning himself to finally enter her. He tried to go in slow, she was extremely wet and he thought he could just slide in, but he was too big, enormous by this time and she was so very tight he didn't see how he could go fast, but she pushed herself down on him and with her legs wrapped around him pushing him up into her. Almost instantly he was buried deep into her heat and she had screamed out as he got there. He waited a few seconds to let her adjust but she would have none of that. _"You are not hurting me Bruce. Rough is fine. Move. I want to feel you moving inside of me."_

Bruce took her at word and started to move, hard and deep. He was more Batman then Bruce now, and they both knew it. He would take his pleasure, and she would be pleasured by that. His strokes were hard and deep, pounding her cervix, brushing her g-spot, and rubbing her clit with every entry and almost exit. He went faster and faster, she orgasmed and screamed, but still he was not done. He kept going, both of them sweating and breathing impossibly hard, a couple not in as good of shape would have collapsed by now. For every stroke she lifted her hips to meet him, harder and harder, their bodies pounding together, the sound of slapping with ever stroke. Bruce thought it was impossible for him to get any larger, any harder, but he could feel himself expanding within her, and she could to. He could not hold back any more. "Alina, baby, I gotta come. I can't hold back anymore. You are amazing."

"Bruce, do it. Fill me up. Drive deep inside of me and pour it out. I'll come again when you do."

A couple more strokes, off rhythm and he let go his hot seed and she cried out her final orgasm. He could feel her body contracting, tightening to pull every last drop from him. He fell on top of her, slightly to the side.

_"Don't pull out. Let's just lay here a while and enjoy it."_

_"At this moment I would do anything in the world for you."_

_"Well, I'm not asking for that much."_ She laughed in his head.

A while later they started to get uncomfortable, pool tile isn't really meant for resting or sleeping on, so they swam over to the other side of the pool, washing some of the bodily fluids off and went back to the teak bed lounger they had been on earlier. They lay on their stomachs still naked and looked at the portraits taken earlier. Bruce turned out to have a good eye for what made a good portrait and unfailingly picked the ones that Alina would have picked. They both agreed that the picture with Two-Face and the double-sided coin in the air was probably the cover shot. It didn't get better than that. The colors and shadows, the coin caught in mid-air, and the article on good vs. evil, and two different faces. It _was_ the cover shot. There really could be no argument. Fortunately Alina had copyrights and editing rights to all her layouts, so she had most of the control. It would be printed mostly the way she laid it out.

Less than two hours later, Alfred came out bringing over sized pool towels to the naked and sleeping couple. He was very pleased to see the outcome of the day to be even better than he had hoped. Alfred covered both and then cleared his throat, waking Bruce up immediately. Trying to control his smirk and not doing a very good job of it, he said, "Dinner will be ready in 45 minutes. We are having something Italian. I hope it meets Alina's standards."

Alina, without moving a muscle or even opening her eyes said, "Alfred, you are almost as smug as Bruce. I might have to hurt you like I have to hurt him."

"Yes m'am. I should like to see that. We'll see you both in 45 minutes, dressed preferably."

"Alfred…" Alina growled and then laughed.

 

* * *

**Chapter 13: Chapter 13**

* * *

A/N: Strong sexual content ahead. You have been warned. Possible parts might be considered OOC, but hey, I wanted to think of him as very romantic and sexual more than he is portrayed in the movies. No flames about being OOC. I acknowledge that as a possibility.

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 13

_I swear I won't tease you  
Won't tell you no lies  
I don't need no bible  
Just look in my eyes  
I've waited so long baby  
Out in the cold  
I can't take much more girl  
I'm losing control_

_I want your sex, George Michaels_

Bruce and Alina decided they should part ways at Alina's door, just for a few minutes to get ready for dinner. Taking a shower together would definitely make them late. Bruce was ready quickly and went down to make a few calls and visit with Alfred, although it was difficult to concentrate when Alina was the only thing he could think of.

Alfred teased Bruce, "Are you ever planning to go back to work sir? Your day job _or_ your night job? Alina seems to have drawn your attention away."

"Very funny Alfred. I think my day job is well under control with Lucius running the ship. As for my night job, let's just say I'm taking a little holiday." Bruce's voice got serious. "I love her Alfred. Absolutely love her and crave her. She completes me. Maybe I don't need Batman anymore."

Alfred quietly and wisely responded, "But does Gotham still need Batman?"

Alina walked in quietly not wanting to disrupt the conversation. It had gone from laughter to serious from the time she hit the bottom stairs to the kitchen door. She heard the last few comments and wasn't sure how she felt. She was just a few minutes late past the 45 minutes they were given. Bruce immediately turned as the scent of star gazer lilies started to fill the room. She looked gorgeous as usual. Her face was tanned and slightly sun kissed as was the rest of her body he imagined. She dressed in a black sleeveless low cut sweater that only had four buttons and then opened to show her stomach and lower abdomen. She had on her worn very low cut jeans and bare feet. Alina hadn't even spoken yet and he was already hard just looking at her. He'd bet that even Alfred was affected given the clearing of his throat and turning away to get dinner on plates. She walked over to Bruce, running her fingers through his still wet hair, and bending low to kiss him lightly. She slowly slid into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close to him as he could get.

Alina softened her voice as she got comfortable and felt safe in Bruce's arms. "Alfred, it smells delicious. What did you make?"

"It's a linguine dish with a white cream sauce and sautéed sea scallops. I hope you like it."

Dinner proceeded as many of them had since she had moved back into their lives. They talked about the day, Alfred looked over the proofs and agreed with their selections, and tonight Bruce even coaxed Alfred into telling some stories of his traveling days. It was a completely enjoyable dinner and everyone was relaxed and comfortable.

Alfred started clearing the table and dishes, when surprisingly Alina offered to clean up. Alfred turned to her and smiled. "My dear child, thank you for your offer. But I have been doing this for so very long I am quite particular about how it gets done. I plan to whip this clean and then get ready for dance night."

"Oh yeah, tonight is dance night. Alfred goes dancing every Wednesday without fail. The ladies _love_ him, and sometimes he even brings one home. Breakfast is usually a little late those mornings. He is apparently quite the catch."

"Alfred, the dancing king. Is this John Travolta disco stuff or tangos and salsas? Or waltzes? And who are these women? Surely, even though you have enormous quarters back there, you wouldn't bring just anyone home."

"It's tangos and salsas and slow dancing too. And no, I don't bring just anyone home. But I doubt any of the women at dancing night are going to be a danger to anyone."

Alina laughed as she stood to kiss him gently on the cheek. "Perhaps sometime you should teach me how to clean up after dinner so I can help get you to dancing night earlier. I feel like a free-loader around here. You do everything, I do nothing, and Bruce won't let me pay for anything even though I have almost as much money as he does. It's really quite frustrating."

"My dear, you have no idea what you do around this house. You have brought happiness and good cheer, more intelligent conversation than has been had before, and most importantly you have brought love. That makes you perhaps the most important person, because you are the person who has made this massive mansion into a home."

Alina smiled at him gratefully, picking up the proofs from earlier in the day. She looked at Bruce expectantly, "Water or wine tonight?"

"I'll arrange for both and meet you in the family room while you take the pictures up to your room."

She gave Bruce her most seductive smile and turned around wishing Alfred a good, even an excellent evening. She also offered up that they were unlikely to need breakfast until around 10:00, so to enjoy his morning. She looked at Bruce, her eyes sultry and expectant and walked through the doors and out of the kitchen.

When she returned downstairs, Bruce was laying on the sofa with space for her already carved out. She joined him, lying close together touching. She rested her head on her arm, and using her free arm started stroking his body from his beautiful face and soft hair down his arm to his hand. She kept this up, staring into his dark eyes, feeling him relax into her graceful movements. As songs would come up on the iPod machine, she would softly sing it to him while he listened and became more and more enthralled in the spell she wove.

"Alina can I ask you a question? It is personal and about the school you went to."

She never stopped her motions as she answered, "You can ask, baby. But I reserve the right to refuse to answer."

"Fair enough. Can you tell me how this sexual training actually worked?"

"Bruce Wayne, practically the richest man in the world, can have anything he desires wants to vicariously live through my sexual experiences with the men who were my teachers. I'm not sure what I think about that."

"Tell me. You were a virgin when you went there. Either they or you had a plan of what you needed to accomplish. What was your plan for your sexual experience? I can guess at the rest, but given you haven't used these skills in 8 years, why do it at all?"

"Bruce, as I told you before, my deflowering, for lack of a better word, and all the subsequent acts were all done respectfully, which ensured my complete cooperation. Believe me, I would have rather lost my virginity the way I did, then to a pimply high school kid that had no experience. To say these men were extremely good at what they did is an utter understatement. The night I lost my virginity, I was seduced, prepped well and brought to the brink of utter pleasure repeatedly before he ultimately blooded me. It was wonderful and I accepted everything he had to give."

"During the course of my training I would have the same men come to me, usually every other night a different one would come to share my bed. Each one was well endowed. I was lucky because some of the girls there would end up with men with average or even less, although they were still pleasured. Each man who was my teacher had a different skill set. One was very proficient at teaching blow jobs and pleasuring a woman in the most intimate way. I learned how to give the best blow jobs ever. I learned to relax and accept the gift of his mouth on the most sensitive places. He taught me how to ejaculate during every orgasm. That is part of why your mouth gets flooded after every orgasm when you are down there to receive it. Another was into light play. Tying me up, forcing me to hold my hands over my head, spreading my legs in whatever way would leave me the most vulnerable. We worked with what we had in the bedroom. We went outside, generating a fear of getting caught in such a position. He liked spanking and using a non damaging crop, or feathers, or balls, both vaginal and anal. He liked to use sex gadgets on me and for me to use them on him. He was the one who taught me the safest way to have anal sex and enjoy it. He was also one of the most respectful of my body and my mind. He NEVER hurt me. It was just kinky sex play, and if I didn't want to do something we didn't do it. The third man was just about straight sex, but he taught me all kinds of positions, all the Tantric teachings and positions. Occasionally, maybe every three weeks or so, they would bring in a fourth man that I had not slept with to assess my progress and where I was still weak. My scores were always very high. I am a quick learner and found I enjoyed sex quite a bit. Most nights, regardless of which man came to me, I was expected to seduce them, play the game or games they had come with in mind. Then we would sleep for a while and wake up to do it all again. Sometimes they would be tireless in ravaging my body and I would get no sleep that night. The men I was with fell in love with me, which was a complete breaking of the rules. But I wanted to stay with them and they wanted to stay with me, so we kept that secret very secret. When it was time to leave, it was a terrible loss. Does having that information make you feel better? Does it make you despise me?" Alina had told her story in a voice, deep and sexy, almost so soft he could barely hear her. It created a sense of peacefulness and an intimacy he had never felt before.

Alina's hand still brushed Bruce's body, sliding under his shirt and stroking his fabulous chest, and he was mesmerized by her touch and her story telling. He was also hard as a rock.

He quietly asked, not wanting to break the silence and peace surrounding them, "Did you love them?"

Alina smiled at Bruce, carefully working his loose button down shirt off of him. She had undone the buttons without him even noticing while she told her story. "No, baby. I have never been in love. Not until now. That is why while I give you everything without reservation, you could crush me completely if you were to not feel the same way."

Bruce paused, thinking what his life was before Alina came into his life. He had purpose, but he did not have love, he did not have passion, he did not have anyone who could meet him step for step, who he could honestly let his guard down with. "I am not disgusted by your sexual education, I only hope I can live up to what you have grown to expect. I love you completely, without reservation. You have come into my life to save me and you have. I want a different life then I have ever had. I needed you, who has traveled almost the same journey, to bring me that realization. I trust you implicitly with what are powerful feelings, maybe for anyone, but especially for me since I have never had those feelings before. I think that is part of why I am driven, needing to touch you constantly. To make sure you are real, to know you are with me, to imprint your body and your mind on mine." His hands had been stroking her exposed abdomen and wrapping themselves in her hair during her response to his questions. Now, he slowly and never taking his eyes off of hers began to unbutton her top. The four buttons were tiny, but his fingers like the rest of him were agile. He pushed the top away raising her body slightly to remove it completely, leaving her in her black lace bra. He moved his eyes to the rising and falling of her breasts, watching the bra move with it. Bruce took his hands and moved them lightly over her breasts watching her breathing speed up. Her hands were still on his chest, doing much the same thing. He took his thumb and forefinger and pulled the top of first one lace cup and then the other down to the wire that cupped her breast underneath, forcing both breasts and nipples up and out, jutting themselves forward as if inviting him to ravish them.

Bruce slid Alina into the middle of the sofa while sliding himself over her. He brought his lips to hers gently, sliding his tongue along her lips begging entry into her hot mouth. She opened to him as she always had, as she always would, allowing him to slide his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues did a passionate dance, lips meeting lips, all very gentle and loving. He slid his mouth away from hers, kissing behind her ears, down her jaw line, dragging his tongue and lips down her neck leaving small marks in his wake. He reached her breasts, lifted and pushed out to receive him. His voice was gravelly and deep, his Batman voice even though it was clearly Bruce with her. He nuzzled her breasts, "I want your breasts like this always. I want to know that whatever you are wearing, underneath your breasts are always waiting for me, waiting for me to take them."

Alina laughed softly at his proposal giving him a very skeptical look with her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. He could have his little fantasy, but that is all it would be. Bruce started to gently suckle and lick at her breasts. Her nipples became hard little buds at the roughness of his tongue and the sucking sensation. Warm fluid rushed into her channel and she could feel her body start to tighten. As she started to squirm he could tell her arousal was starting to climb. He bit down gently but hard enough to bring a gasp from her mouth and she involuntarily thrust upwards. He laughed lightly at her responsiveness. He loved that he could make her twist and squirm and he had hardly done anything yet. It seemed only fair since she gave him a perpetual hard-on all day and all night.

He continued his slide down her body licking and tasting her soft skin. His tongue stayed busy tasting her while his hands started to undo her low cut jeans. He raised his head slightly, as his fingers dipped between her lower abdomen and her jeans. His low, deep voice spoke again, "There is only about 2 inches from the top of your jeans to your," he slid two fingers into her deep wetness…"pussy. These jeans should be made illegal. They are way too dangerous." She squirmed and moaned as he played with her, even with her jeans on. He finally withdrew his hand, and she groaned with disappointment. He quickly finished undoing her jeans and raised himself up to pull them off of her. He dropped them over the couch, leaving her naked in front of him except for her bra. "God, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known." He loved her body, the way her stomach tighten as her body responded to his touch, the way her nipples stayed hard for him almost always, and the hot tight channel that squeezed him so possessively.

But he wanted her more than naked in front of him. When she talked earlier about school and being made vulnerable, it struck him. Alina was never vulnerable. He wanted her vulnerable to him. He took one leg and placed it on the floor and gently took her other and placed it over the top of the sofa. She was now completely open to him. Her utterance was soft but there was a there was a hint of anxiety. He wanted her trusting him completely unafraid. Leaving her where she was, he moved his body to cover hers and looked into her eyes. "Do you trust me Alina? Do you believe that even though you are completely open to me that I will only love you and not hurt you?"

She hesitated but when she looked into his eyes, deep into his eyes where she saw love and passion and need. "I do trust you, Bruce. Make love to me. I am yours." He smiled at her response and kissed her gently, and then slipped back down her body, sitting on his knees. He lowered his head between her widely spread legs and parted her already wet folds so he could reach her most sensitive place. Before he got started, he raised his head to look at her from his position between her legs. "Alina, you are a goddess and I am a mere servant to you. Let me worship you." She nodded her head slightly and leaned back against the sofa arm to watch and enjoy. His rough tongue rubbed against her hyper-sensitive skin, drawing a soft moan from her. He licked her already rich cream, which as she became more intoxicated to his touch caused even more to flow from her. Bruce easily found the hard nub of her clit and started to lick and suck on it as Alina started to thrash around. "Bruce baby, please."

"We are just getting started baby." He continued licking and sucking, even occasionally biting at her clit drawing moans and cries from Alina. He slowly added fingers to the torture, ultimately four fingers stretching her tight channel. He moved his mouth against her as his fingers pushed in and out of her body, slickness was pouring from her and she was thrusting against his hand while his fingers fucked her. She had several minor orgasms, creating the wetness and sending tremors down her body he could feel through his fingers. She was shaking and trembling, crying out for him to bring her all the way and ultimately he gave in to her cries. He rapidly bit and licked at her clit while his fingers started to move faster and faster. Her thrashing became so powerful he was afraid she might fall off the couch before she finally came. When her body finally gave in to his ministrations, she screamed out her orgasm calling his name. He lapped up some more of her delicious fluid, licking it from her thighs and her inner folds. When he had had enough, he crawled up her body and rested in her arms, feeling her breathing start to slow. He thought she might fall asleep right there, after she had repositioned her legs and was comfortable. But within a few minutes, she whispered to him, "Baby now it is your turn. You think you can take it?"

"I've been hard as a rock since dinner, and this only made it more difficult. Whatever it is that is my turn won't take long." Alina laughed softly asking him to stand so she could remove his pants. Soon he stood and before long he was as naked as she was. Bruce was one of the most endowed men she had ever known. She thought she must be one of the luckiest women in the world.

"Baby, it's best if we do this standing against a wall or laying down. Personally, I prefer standing. It seems more like I am worshipping your body. Just standing like you are now will be harder for you because your knees might get weak and you won't have anything to hold you up. How about over there against the wall?" Alina motioned to the wall across the room with dark mahogany paneling. Bruce gave her a hesitant smile and pulled her up in front of him, kissing her deeply, his rough day old beard scratching her relentlessly. They both knew that by the end of the night, she would be raw in several places. She gently ended the kiss and led him over to the wall leaning him carefully against it.

Alina kissed Bruce again, loving the taste of her in his mouth. She slowly, like a snake descending a tree, slid down his body, licking, biting, and sucking every sensitive point until she found herself on her knees in front of him. "You are now my god, and I am but _your _humble servant. I hope you find my offering adequate, _Master_ Wayne."

He snickered at her use of Alfred's moniker for him. He was certainly not master over Alina as she had shown so many times. His breath caught as she licked the copious pre-cum off of his tip, swirling her hot tongue around the entire sensitive head, pointing her tongue digging into the little divot at the very tip. He groaned as she drilled her tongue into that tiny hole. While her tongue was making him weak, she used her finger to pull some of her own silken fluid from her body to use as lubricant as she slid her very wet finger into his ass finding his prostate easily. Bruce gasped at the surprise entry and as her finger slid onto his prostate, the wall was suddenly holding all of his weight. She had been right about his knees buckling without the help to hold him up. Her mouth started to trace the vein that ran down the length of his cock. Bruce moaned at the sensation. Alina moved downwards taking him in, the heat of her mouth increasing the tightness he already felt. Every time he thought he couldn't get any harder, there she was doing something that made him grow. Soon she had him completely in her mouth, and as she began to pull back she increased the suction and pushed on his prostate bringing an even louder groan from him. This continued, swallow, squeeze, suck, push as Alina slowly started to speed things up. Her free hand fondled and rolled his balls like Chinese medicine balls. She never stopped her other movements until ultimately Bruce felt he had to take control of the pace. He was dying at the slow progression of speed. He wanted to come so badly now. Everything felt so good he thought he might explode and incinerate like one of those Bat bombs. He took her head gently between his hands and started to move Alina's head faster and faster. She matched him move for move, sucking at the right time, lubricating with her hot saliva on the way down, pushing on his prostate on the way up. His moans and groans were becoming loud as he was approaching his climax. His rhythm fell off but hers never did. She released his balls as they had drawn up close to his body and the time was close. She needed at least one hand to brace herself as he would soon force himself deeply into her mouth, spilling his seed. His speed was becoming a challenge for Alina to keep up with, but using her free hand to pull her closer to him by putting it behind his ass, she managed the last few strokes until he finally spilled completely his hot seed into her mouth. She used her hand on his ass to slow the pace so she could milk him completely before he pulled out. Bruce's sweaty body pulled out of her mouth and slid down the wall to the ground. She was no longer touching him or inside him any longer. She had licked him clean and kissed him long and deep so he could taste himself. Then she went to wash her hands before she returned to him and he took her in his arms.

They sat there, a huddled mass of nakedness, one breathing and one trying to regain breath. Bruce sighed in her wonderful hair, feeling absolute contentment. That had been so wonderful he didn't even know what to say. He tried to find his voice but it failed him. She grinned at him wickedly, leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. "I know baby, I know," while she held two fingers over his lips.

* * *

**Chapter 14: Chapter 14**

* * *

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 14

_This is big time  
This is larger than life  
See the sparks fly when you're standing by my side  
Every step, every move, everything I do  
Life is beautiful because of you_

Every breath that you give  
You are my sweet oxygen I breathe  
You made me fall away fast  
So my dreams could get past the end  
I won't ever want to feel

_How did I survive before you came into my life  
I'd do anything at all  
Anything at all  
For you_

_Because of You, Meatloaf_

Throughout the night the couple made love and would fall into an exhausted slumber only to have one or the other wake and start all over again. They were insatiable in their need for each other's touch, in their demand for each other's body. Long past dawn breaking, Alina began to climb out of the destroyed bed. Not that they had limited their lovemaking to the bed. There was virtually no piece of furniture left unused, no position left untried. When they spoke of absorbing each other that is precisely what they had done, absorbed the soul of the other in their sometimes aggressive and often languorous lovemaking. Bruce felt the bed move and reached out to grab Alina's wrist, holding her to the bed. His voice was tired, but there was a strong thread of possession and need there as well. "Where are you going, baby?"

"Bruce, it's already almost 9:00. I swore when I got back to civilization I would never lay around feeling dirty again. I, as well as you, am covered in dried bodily fluids and I'm taking a shower. You can sleep some more or you can join me. I figure Alfred will be here in an hour or so with breakfast."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll join you. I have Lucius Fox coming to the mansion this afternoon to talk about your costume. Are you ready for that?"

Alina was a little surprised and he could see it in her face. They were side by side at the enormous double sink and vanity area brushing their teeth. They were waiting for the also huge shower to heat up. "I guess I didn't really think Batman was going to let the White Queen out to play. It's a nice surprise."

Bruce wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. "He may still not. But we might as well get something made. It will take some time."

She smiled at him and pulled him into the shower. They enjoyed the slick sensation of the other's skin covered in soap. Bruce was thorough in his bathing of Alina and there was no spot that was missed. Alina gave Bruce the same gift. Soon he had her pushed against the raw marble shower wall, kissing her aggressively, bringing the stinging of the damage his beard had already done back to her attention. She pulled away slightly laughing, "You know Bruce, next time you decide to kiss me anywhere, you will shave first. My face is going to start to bleed soon, as well as some other sensitive places."

"Whiner." He grabbed her ass from behind lifting her up till their centers were aligned. He held her there with one arm while he felt to see if she was ready for him, and as had been the case all night long, she already was. He heard her moan as he pushed his fingers into her channel testing her readiness, his thumb finding her swollen bud and swirling around it. His voice was low and deep, and the latest of his innumerable arousals was painful. They had done so much over the last many hours. He found he was actually sore from the almost constant erection. "Baby, we don't have a lot of time and Batman has come out to play. I'm going to take you hard and fast."

"Batman always seems to be in a 'take no prisoners' mood."

Bruce smiled wickedly at her as he impaled her onto his hard staff. He pushed her down while pushing himself up, forcing his way to her end. He heard her gasp as the entry was hard and fast, but over the last evening and more, he had learned she liked it that way. He had had her every which way but Sunday and his body just needed to fuck her one last time before they left their room for the other world they belonged in. He pounded her body, dragging his huge dick across her g-spot and her clit, repeating over and over until he could feel tremors and convulsions in her channel and she let out a whispered cry. His body tightened in response and spilled into her one last time. Her body tightened around him, milking him for as much as he could give her, but he couldn't believe he had anything left. He never believed he would ever have such a need for another person, a desire to possess every part of them. He never believed he could ever make love with someone as often as they did last night. He had never even wanted to before. He let her drop her legs from around his waist to the ground, supporting her body until she could get comfortable with her legs under her. They were still kissing, nuzzling, holding each other until he finally released her. He helped her wash her hair and washed her body again, while she washed him. Mostly they were silent and just spoke with their hands, their touch, and their mouths. Their minds would drift in and out of the other's, but just because they could, not with any intent to communicate.

They reluctantly left the shower and dried off. Bruce opened the windows to air out the room. It reeked of sex, and while it wasn't like Alfred didn't know what they were doing, it was a little overwhelming. Bruce pulled on his loose sweats and Alina pulled on Bruce's button down shirt from the night before. He sat with Alina between his legs and combed out her hair for her. They were both content and comfortable. Right on time, Alfred brought a hearty breakfast along with coffee to them.

"How was dance night Alfred?" Alina teased.

"Very nice m'am. There were even some new ladies there to engage with." Alfred knew she hated the 'm'am' title and insisted on using it anyway.

"And did any one cross the bar and make it home?"

"Ah, a gentleman does not tell."

"Hmm, hum. You sir are definitely a gentleman. Thank you for the breakfast just the same. I think we have destroyed the room and certainly the sheets. Will you be able to take care of that or should I?"

Bruce assuming a positive response moved on, looked to Alfred after drinking his coffee at the open window. "Alfred, Lucius is coming by today to talk about the White Queen's outfit. He'll be here at 1:00, and perhaps we can entice him to stay through dinner. Alina, I thought after breakfast we could go down to the dojo and shooting range and do some practicing."

"You are ready to have your pretty ass handed to you so soon?" Alina was tired and did not want to fight this afternoon, but she could hardly beg off. If Lucius did not agree that she was capable of being the White Queen, he had enough influence with Bruce to not let her.

Bruce smirked at Alina and carried it over to Alfred. "I think we will practice with bamboo sticks today. Something I haven't seen you do yet. We'll see whose ass gets handed to whom. Instead of shooting where you are already a perfect shot, I think we will do martial arts, and then the sticks."

She looked at him with a glare to her eyes, and she spoke to him telepathically. _"You are being a bastard, Bruce. You know Lucius will be watching me, and you pick one of the things I am unlikely to beat you at, especially when I'm tired from fucking all night long."_

"_Yes, well baby. You can't always beat Batman. That wouldn't be right."_

"_Can I fuck Batman, I know I already have many times, but I mean in the costume. That huge cup does come off doesn't it?"_

"_Now who is being naughty? You can hardly be a bastard but you can be a bitch. You even mention fucking in the costume and I get hard, again. It's your own fault you are so tired. Better get used to it, we share the same bed and always will. It will be like this forever."_

Alina snorted and finished her coffee. Alfred had discretely left the room once he realized they were talking telepathically. While he was not so endowed, he knew it when he saw it. Life would just keep getting wilder and wilder at the Wayne mansion.

Half an hour later, Bruce and Alina were dressed for the fight and armed with lots of water headed downstairs. Bruce was wrapped around Alina's body whispering in her ear what he planned to do to her later. They were both very steamed up by the time the elevator hit the right floor. Alfred would bring Lucius down here when he arrived.

They threw stars first to warm up, then moved into the martial arts. They were aiming for bruising kicks and challenging moves, but no twisted knees or ankles. The martial arts became grappling which almost became sex until they remembered they were going to have visitors soon. Bruce tossed a 5 foot bamboo stick at Alina which she easily caught. She had been trained in this skill much as the others. She might win, but it wasn't going to be a cakewalk either. Bruce made sure they donned protective gear, masks to prevent any damage from a blow to the head, and chest protection as well. A properly applied point on the stick, or even a flat of a stick could break a rib or certainly puncture the skin. It could also kill. They were practicing, not playing for keeps.

They took their positions and carefully started to advance on each other. Their sticks kept connecting but did not make it past the other's barrier. They 'waltzed' back and forth on the dojo mat, hitting sticks, sometimes hitting each other. They heard Alfred and Lucius silently join them, but did not stop for another 15 minutes. Finally Bruce called "HOLD," and sticks were brought down and upright. It was finished. They were both tremendously sweaty and had certainly exhausted what little of their stamina remained.

Alina asked Bruce breathily, "So how would you call that one?"

"I'd call it a draw. Equal amount of hits, no one went down, it's a draw. So Alina, no one's ass gets handed to them today." He smirked at her.

"But the day is still young my love. The day is still young."

Bruce tossed her an iced bottled water and a towel while she cleaned up, undoing her long hair from its braid. Bruce came to her and ran his fingers through it, pulling the curls and waves out to show off her beautiful hair and allow him to bury his fingers in it. While he seemed absorbed in Alina, he was quite aware that Lucius and Alfred were both there watching the two of them. Not removing his hand from her floral scented hair, he finally looked up and welcomed them both to the meeting. Alina had wiped the sweat from her hands and body, and when she was introduced to Lucius she stepped up to shake his hand appropriately and with the respect due him. After all, besides running Bruce's company completely, he also designed all the costumes and tools. Bruce came up behind her wrapping his arm around her completely, seeming to claim her in front of his most trusted advisors.

Lucius looked Alina up and down. She was small and petite, especially standing next to Bruce Wayne. But it looked like she could fight like the devil, and was trained at least as well as Bruce. His mind was already whirring with ideas. Bruce suggested they head downstairs and take a look at Batman's costume to get ideas for Alina's. Alina was surprised that there was yet still a lower and even lower level from where they were. They went first to the armament level to look at the Batsuit and the equipment. Bruce described to Lucius what he had in mind for Alina.

"She is the White Queen to my Black Knight. Her costume will need to be lighter weight then mine. Hell, mine is too heavy for me, it would be impossible for her. We discussed white, but because that would show up too much in the night, we discussed using a material the Special Forces use to blend into their surroundings."

Alina picked up here. "When I was in the Congo, I was involved in the rescue of a member of a special Special Forces soldier. These men were the elite of the elite and had special skills and almost all were telepathic. They wore fatigues made out of a material that changed to completely blend them into their surroundings. They would turn the green of the undergrowth forest, or black like the river, or brown and green if they were high up in the trees in a sniper position."

Lucius was nodding in understanding. "I've heard of this material being used. It is one thing to become a chameleon in the rainforest. It is something else entirely in an urban environment. I wonder if the material can change against brick and soot and all the other colors we have here in Gotham? I would need to get a hold of some and test it. Why would you just not go with black?"

Bruce sighed. "We could if that material doesn't work. She would then be known as the Black Queen, but I suppose the nomenclature of White Queen is only really important between us."

Lucius walked over to where Alina was standing and reached out to touch her hair. Bruce immediately stiffened, and started to walk towards them when Alina told him, "_Stand down, Bruce. He is only thinking about what to do to cover my hair._" Bruce stopped and forced himself to back up and sit down. Both Alfred and Lucius had noted Bruce's reaction and were concerned yet again.

"I supposed there is no way to cut your hair?" Lucius wondered as his brain was churning with ideas and concepts.

Both Bruce and Alina responded simultaneously. "No."

Lucius looked at Alfred and then turned back to Bruce with a laugh on his face. "Somehow after watching you earlier, I figured that would be the answer. The hair has to be covered. It is too unique and would give her away for sure. Folding it into a cap would be next to impossible due to the length, and braiding it into a circlet around her head would be cumbersome and too time consuming if you had to move quickly. A straight braid like the one you were wearing when I arrived would work, but unless we provided some sort of cover for it, it could become a liability. I'll have to think about this challenge. Making the suit lighter is no problem, but she will need protection against bullets which does make the suit heavier."

Bruce, sitting in the chair, groaned as he put his head in his hands. "Bullets. I don't know Alina, maybe this is a bad idea. It is one thing for you to kill from afar or fight hand to hand, but even you cannot dodge bullets. It would be entirely too distracting knowing you were out there facing bullets."

"You do it every night. You think it is any less troubling to me?"

"I know." Bruce shook his head. "Let's go forward with the costume and weapons for Alina. It will take a while. Maybe I can get my head around it before then. Below the neck she is protected, even against bullets. But the head, that is the weakest point against an attack. Lucius you'll need to build a hood that will cover her face and head and will protect her from bullets."

Lucius looked thoughtful, already figuring out how to make this come together. He wasn't sure that Alina would ever wear the gear once he built it. Bruce was proving to be extremely attached to this woman, and his protectiveness would get in the way, endangering them both. Since Alina had returned to Gotham, and Bruce had insisted she move into the mansion, he had only gone out as Batman once and that was only briefly. He seemed to be losing his obsession with Batman, and replacing it with an obsession, even love with Alina. She was perfect for him, almost frighteningly so. Alina had apparently trained and traveled for years, taking huge personal risks, to become the perfect complement to Bruce Wayne/Batman. Just when Bruce needed her most of all, she was sent here by some vague powers that both she and Bruce knew about. Lucius thought he would take his time creating her suit and see where things fell out. Personally Lucius thought finding love and letting Batman go was not entirely bad. Bruce was happier and enjoyed life more in the last week or so than the morose and obsessed young man who dwelled on Batman around the clock. He looked better and it seemed like his insomnia was now cured. Regardless of how the changes came about, Lucius thought it was all good.

Lucius turned away from the Batsuit towards a waiting Bruce Wayne and a thoughtful Alina and Alfred. Alina had been brushing Lucius' mind, to understand what he was thinking. Alfred just watched the dynamics flow in the room. The two men who had been the most influential in his life as Batman stood in the room with the one woman who was likely to be the most influential person in his entire life. There was a lot of thinking and considering going on around the room. The continuing role of Batman was the largest question out there.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Chapter 15**

* * *

A/N: Joker takes a peek from his little peep-show and we have lots of Bat-sex. You have been warned. Review PLEASE. Thanks to everyone who has put this on story alert, favorite story, and favorite author. That is very generous given this is my first foray into the movie world, and it is a bit different from cars and gadgets.

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 15

_Its early in the morning  
And my heart is really lonely  
Just thinkin' 'bout you baby  
Got me twisted in the head  
And I don't know how to take it  
But its driving me so crazy  
I don't know if it's right  
I'm tossin' turning in my bed  
Its 5 o'clock in the morning  
And I still can't sleep  
Thinkin' 'bout your beauty it makes me  
Weak...  
I'm feeling hopeless in my home  
I don't know what to do but I think I'm in love  
Baby..._

_Obsession, Frankie J_

_Joker lay in his standard issue prison bed, a thin mattress with no sheet on top of metal coils and only a thin pillow, dressed in his standard issue red jumpsuit, deemed appropriate for prisoners as well as the insane. He once again stared at the photograph of himself in Vanity Fair and remembered that day with Alina Witter. She had broken his body without a doubt. It was 12 weeks later and while his arm cast had come off a few weeks before, his leg cast was coming off today. _

_He would never be able to walk completely again. Instead of replacing his shattered knee so he could walk normally, the asylum and "other" authorities determined they would just fuse the entire leg together, which would provide him with a permanent and significant limp. He would need a cane, but would never get one in here, so he imagined what that cane would look like, how it would be made, and what he would use it for when he got out. _

_He would get out, and he would go in search of the woman he could never get out of his mind. Yes, she had broken his body, and perhaps what was left of his mind. But he would have her regardless. He lay in his standard issue prison bed and imagined her, how he would seduce her, how she would beg for him, how she already dreamed of him, how he would undress her, touch her, fill her. He jerked off to his vision of her several times a day. He could get himself quite worked up about her perfect skin, her emerald green eyes, her hair. Even though she had tried to hide her beauty when she came to him before, someone had smuggled a photograph of her into him. That hair. Just imagining that hair across his body would start an erection that refused to be denied. _

_He spent the endless hours laying in his standard issue prison bed, covered in dried and drying cum, planning his next deluge of chaos on Gotham, of killing Batman, of taking the woman who would be his new bride, and taking her, and taking her. He would take her over and over until he was spent, which would be never. This one he would not damage though. There would be no cutting, no slicing, no torture. He wanted her to love him, and she would. He would make sure she did._

Bruce Wayne and Alina Witter were quite the IT couple, attending most galas and functions in Gotham. Bruce was stepping into his leadership role in Gotham as the single wealthiest individual for hundreds of miles and from one of the oldest families. He was marrying the most beautiful woman in Gotham certainly and maybe even further reaches. She was also the second wealthiest individual for hundreds of miles. His respect was undeniable, and his voice was heard and listened to no matter how softly the message was delivered. It was one way he could lead Gotham out of the quagmire it had become. While neither Bruce nor Alina thrived in the social and political environment, it was one of the steps in their plan to prepare Gotham for the retirement of Batman.

And they did have a plan. It started to form the night Bruce proposed to Alina. He had closed the most beautiful and most intimate of his restaurants for the evening, bringing Alina along for what was to be a quiet dinner out. When she realized they were the only customers, her interest was piqued but she did not read his mind. She would allow him his surprise. They ate what had to be the chef's most spectacularly cooked meal ever, enjoying the company and the deep abiding love and friendship that had developed over the months. Before dessert arrived, Bruce cleared his throat and got down on his knee in front of Alina who was very surprised, both that Bruce would propose at all and that he would do so like this. She always figured if it happened, it would be a by-the-way thing after a vigorous round of sex. She smiled at him slightly, her eyebrows rose in surprise.

Bruce looked up at her, feeling a little foolish, but refusing to have it any other way. He had been so tempted night after night of great sex or swimming in the pool or watching her walk down the immense staircase where she stood out so stunningly. But he waited, and now was the time.

"Alina, I love you more than life itself. You complete me and make me whole. You make me the man I was meant to be. Will you marry me and become my wife?" He pulled out a box and opened it showing a 10 ct. perfect diamond center stone with a platinum band set with pink diamonds all the way around. She knew it would come with a matching set of wedding bands for either side of the engagement ring. It really was stunning. While he could have afforded so much more, her tiny hand would not have been appropriate for something any larger.

"It's beautiful, Bruce. Perfect. Not too big, not too ostentatious, but a perfect fit for my hand," she shook her head to clear it. "And yes, baby, I will marry you." Bruce stood up and leaned over her, taking her lips with his. The kiss was deep, emotional, and searing for both of them. That one kiss fused each to the other, with or without a marriage, with or without vows, they were joined forever in their souls.

That night in bed, when the only thing worn was Alina's engagement ring, they started to plan for Batman's retirement. How could they get done what needed to be done without having to resort to Batman and the White Queen? The White Queen was about to make her appearance, but it was also likely Joker was about to make his break now that his leg was healed. They also knew with each passing week, Alina would become pregnant and then retirement was certain for both. They would not orphan their children acting in a high risk manner. Their parents had certainly never intended to orphan them, and they would take extreme measures to ensure they would not orphan their children.

Every day they practiced in full gear allowing the White Queen to get used to her costume. Lucius was often there for those sessions, watching how she moved, how the suit move with her, what worked and what didn't work. For the most part, the costume worked well, but she could not get used to or comfortable with the cape. The cape was designed to flow loosely around her in general. But when she was being shot at or otherwise placed in danger, she could turn it into a triangular sheath that would protect her body. It was bullet proof and could not be released without her touching the button. It would also allow her to "fly."

"Lucius, this is truly a brilliant concept, but I think the button is in the wrong place. I have to stretch my fingers too far to get to it. And I need to be able to close it part way, not always all the way. I can't use my gun if it is closed all the way."

"You plan to use your gun?"

"Of course, Lucius. I would not have had it made if I didn't. If the Joker or his cronies come for me with weapons, or in the Joker's case just comes for me, I will shoot to kill. But if I am all tangled up in this cape I won't be able too."

"I'll work on it. How does the head piece work? Can you turn your head? What about comfort of your hair? Is it pulling your scalp? Have you tried driving in it yet?"

"No driving yet. The Knight hasn't let the Queen into her chariot yet." The frustration in her voice was clearly understood by both men.

Lucius turned to Bruce, "Mr. Wayne, if she is going out soon, she has to be able to drive. She is in great shape, but she can't run all over Gotham. It is time to let her drive, just here in the Caverns at first. She drives a race car. I think she can handle this car, if one could even call it that."

And so later that afternoon, she started driving what she called her chariot. By nightfall, she had perfected the handling and the various tools and functions. She loved it and couldn't wait to go driving. But she still had at least another week before Bruce and Lucius deemed her ready. Bruce and Alina showered in the Bat caves after putting their gear away completely. Bruce would be going out as Batman tonight, but for the time being it was just them, alone before dinner. They made love in the cavern's shower, Bruce pinning Alina against the wall softly kissing and nibbling on her until he lifted her up against the wall, spreading her legs perpendicular to the wall, almost painfully spread, and without warning drove his engorged staff into her ready channel. He hit her cervix in one swift move, driving a scream from her as her tightness rebelled against being taken so forcefully. She clawed his back and shoulders as he pounded against her, taking her mouth by storm, intent on plundering her body. Her body responded to the roughness, spiraling from orgasm to orgasm, squeezing his staff hard and harder the more he plowed into her. Soon his body could not take any more as her channel constricted against his brutal seizure of her body, and he poured his release deep into her. They were both breathing heavily and exhausted, but did not want to separate. That taking had been brutal and intense, but this was how it was with them. He released her legs so they could lovingly embrace him, but more than that they just stood there letting the water cascade around them, kissing softly, gently.

"Did I hurt you, Alina?" Bruce always felt some remorse when Batman took over. But the line between Batman and Bruce was becoming narrower. Sex seemed to be the place it played out the most.

"Baby, you never hurt me, not really. You often surprise, especially when Batman comes out to play. And besides, you, me, and Batman like it rough sometimes. It is becoming harder and harder to tell you apart."

Bruce nuzzled at her neck, kissing and nipping, leaving small marks that would probably be gone the next day. "I love you Alina."

"I love you too Bruce."

He shut off the water and let her find her feet under her before leading her out of the shower and into the thick terry cloth robes Alfred always seemed to have in the perfect places.

Hours after dinner, Bruce left their bed to go out. He kissed Alina thoroughly. "Tonight, I'm going to work on setting up the early warning system between the asylum and here."

"I'll be waiting baby. Be careful. Keep your mind on your job." She knew he spent a lot, maybe most of his time thinking about her, but that would not do. It wasn't safe. She couldn't wait until the suit was retired. Gotham was not worth his life. Ever.

She fell asleep quickly, naked as usual. When she awoke, there was a huge black being poised above her in the darkness. She knew it was Batman, she had seen the costume enough. But he had never ventured above the caverns, and certainly never into their bedroom.

The deep dark Batman voice spoke to her, "Alina, you have said you wanted to fuck Batman in his costume. You've done it often without, but tonight, tonight he wants you. He stays in his costume, you stay naked. He takes you any way he wants. Do you agree?"

She looked at the man she loved in front of her, coming to her as a stranger. Yes, she had fucked Batman before in Bruce's body, his hands, his lips, his everything. But in the costume, he was not Bruce. This would truly be turning her body over to a stranger. She tentatively whispered, "Bruce?"

"Tonight you get Batman, the full package. I know you can take what I can dish out Alina. You did at that school, you have since you have been living here. I just want more."

She sat up, barely holding the sheet to her breasts. Her voice was cold, holding an edge of outrage to it. "You want more what? I have refused Bruce and up until now you nothing. NOTHING. You don't sound like you want to do this out of love. You sound like you want rape. That is neither love nor respect. My body is not a plaything to take out your aggressions on. Bruce, where are you? Is this what you want? If it is, I will consent. But if it is not, Batman needs to go downstairs, take the gear off, shower, and come up here to bed. If you want to fuck me in the costume, fine I'm in. If you want to rape my body, no holes barred, I don't think so. Not when you are like this."

Batman stood there making his cape wave without wind. She tried to reach for Bruce's mind but it was blocked. She tried to reach for Batman's mind and hers was instantly flooded with images of what he wanted from her. Nothing there was anything they hadn't done before even the level of roughness didn't seem all that different. But what was missing was love, an underlying sense of love and respect.

"Batman, I see what you want from me and how you want it. But before I agree, I want to know how you feel about me, Alina Witter and your partner the White Queen. Tell me. The White Queen and Batman are going to be fighting side by side, probably fighting the Joker who is bound to escape soon and will come for Alina Witter. What do you feel?"

Alina could feel Bruce's mind pushing forward, but she wanted to hear from Batman. She knew how Bruce felt. Batman started his reply, "I love you. I love you Alina. And since she is a part of you I love the White Queen as well."

Alina went into his mind to see if that was Batman or Bruce or Batman being tempered by Bruce. It was Batman and he was afraid she would turn him away. She softened her voice to that low sexy one she used so often. "Why are you afraid I will turn you away Batman? Even when you take over Bruce, I never gave you cause to fear being turned away."

"Then I was part of Bruce Wayne, now the line between us is becoming blurred. He is becoming stronger and I will soon be unnecessary, I will remain but much less."

"That is true, and it frightens you. Ambrose Redmoon says that 'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.'" Alina sat up in their bed and dropped the sheet she had been holding to her breast, leaving herself exposed before him. She touched his mind again and realized Bruce had stopped struggling to get to the top, and was now listening. This was important for all of them. "Do you understand what is more important than the fear you have of diminishing?"

"Bruce Wayne would be able to let go of his fears, his need to single handedly solve Gotham's problems, his unspoken desire for death. He would be able to live happily with you, with your children, in a relatively safe environment that was not given to you or to him. Bruce Wayne, the man, is more important than I am. I will always be a part of him though, Alina. I will always share your bed. His children will be my children."

"Yes, that is all true. And it is your job, as Batman, in or out of costume, to protect Bruce most of all, myself, and whatever children we have. You are the bravest of us all, the strongest of us all, and you have a large responsibility. Protect Bruce Wayne no matter what. Protect our children. Protect me. You will not diminish if you pick up those responsibilities. And no one starts to diminish, not you or the White Queen until the time comes. Until Joker is gone and no longer a threat and/or I get pregnant, everything stays the same. Do you understand Batman?"

"This makes sense. And you and Bruce are not trying to destroy me, just change my job description." He smirked at her, while he took in her exposed body, from the waist up. Heat grew in his eyes, and while she couldn't see anything behind that cup, she could imagine.

"Do you intend to hurt me? Do anything against my will?" She asked straightforward, not wanting to instigate anything.

"You've seen what I want. You pulled it from my head. It's not that different from what you and Bruce have already done. There just won't be any water play. The suit you know." There was almost a laugh in there if one listened for it.

"What is the word, Batman? What is the word that if I use it you stop, immediately, and let Bruce out?"

"Gondomar."

"And if I use this word you agree to stop?"

"Yes. Why do you not trust me? If the White Queen and Black Knight are going to be traipsing across rooftops together, and you and Bruce are going to be married, and you have charged me with Bruce's safety as well as your own and your children, how can you not trust me with your body?"

"I'm afraid. You look imposing and scary, and some of the pictures I pulled from your head were not respectful of my body but more merciless, like you wanted to humiliate me. I like rough sex, I like all sex, but humiliation I don't do. If you humiliate me sexually, you, as Batman, will never touch me again. I can tell the difference in touch, smell, breath. I'll make good on my promise. Touch me in love, touch me with respect, and I will do almost anything. Anything less won't work."

The heat in his eyes faltered a bit, but as Alina moved the sheet further down and slid her body further up the bed, the heat became intense. And he slid his knee onto the end of the bed, and began to crawl towards her naked tanned body. He winced slightly and quickly removed the large shell shaped cup that protected his groin. He had grown huge behind that cup and he was wincing at his discomfort. It had never been designed to house an erection, especially not as large as this one. He reached her body with his gigantic hard-on. Alina reached out tentatively to touch him, circling him with her hand. She licked her lips and stroked him. Her voice was dark, deep, and sexy, "What do you want?"

He threw the image into her mind, making her smile. Bruce/Batman were becoming experts at reading and projecting minds. Batman flipped over onto his back, but not so fast that Alina's hands were pulled from his cock. She licked her lips and slid her body over to him. She started licking the pre-cum from his head, and then rode his staff down to its root and slowly drew her mouth back up again sucking the entire way. Soon she had him squirming and shifting, but she lifted her weight and pinned him at his hips. She never stopped the stroke that had him squirming.

She felt his hands pushing her legs apart. His thick gloves couldn't allow him to feel it, but she was dripping wet. She was still sucking and riding, sucking and riding, never breaking stride while he put a finger into her dripping channel, brushing his thumb across her clit. The roughness of his glove caused her to gasp, and then she continued. He pulled his finger out and brought it to his mouth, licking her honey off the glove. Soon he had three fingers thrusting inside her channel and his thumb on her clit while his other hand guided her head up and down at the same pace. Soon he reached his peak, and he made sure she did too. He came hot and hard in her mouth, smothering her scream as she came against his gloved fingers.

She licked him clean as was her habit and fell back against pillows. They were both breathing hard after their mutual orgasms. But he recovered faster than she did and rolled his body on top of hers. He started to kiss her, pinch her, bite her, twist her nipples painfully, causing a sharp intake of breath for her, and her body sent even more hot liquid through her channel. There was not a part of her body his mouth or glove covered hands didn't touch, all the way down to her toes. He even had her turn over and he worked his way back up from her toes to her ass to her neck. It was really erotic since he was covered head to toe in rubberized steel, and she was completely naked. There was no part of him she could touch, except his already hardened cock, and there was no part of her he couldn't touch.

He gently rolled her onto her back, sliding his way up her body. He looked deep into her green eyes, and pushed her legs apart with his knees, shoving his swollen and engorged cock straight in without stopping until he hit her cervix. She screamed as her tightness rejected his width but he muffled the scream with his kiss. His kiss. She forgot everything when he kissed her. There was nothing like this kiss, it tasted of danger, and lust, and passion, and completion, need and hunger, and love. Love was there too. She thought she might do anything for that kiss. He fucked her hungrily, possessively, like now that he was inside her he would never leave. Her orgasms large and small spilled over him, the tremors and contractions coming all the way from her abdomen, wreaking havoc on his ability to restrain himself. He powered into her, driving harder and harder, until he could not hold back. Her spasms threatened to squeeze the life out of him, literally and figuratively, and he came, ejecting his semen deep inside of her. He laid on top of her but slightly to the side, catching his breath and her doing to same. He smelled her flower shampoo, ran his fingers and his face through her hair, wanting to be buried in it.

Within minutes, Batman was ready to go again, even if she had not fully recovered. This time he took her from behind over a chair. The next time he took her on her knees at the side of the bed. The time after that, he pulled her to him at the edge of the bed and he fucked her again, with one of her legs over his shoulder and the other over the other shoulder. He could drive deeper than ever before while they stared into each other's eyes, eyes full of heat, and lust, and love.

The last taking was from behind, Alina's elbows resting on the bed her ass prominently displayed in the air. "Stay just like this." She felt so exposed, but her body was responding once again to his hunger, his need, his possession. Her fluid was leaking down her legs in her terrified excitement. She could always say no, but she wouldn't. Not now, not ever, to Bruce or to Batman.

Once he had her positioned he grabbed some towels and a few wet washcloths, and the lube from the shower. He stroked her ass tenderly, feeling the muscles and trembling skin underneath his gloves. "Alina, do you trust me?" he asked in that deep and dark nightmare filled voice.

She swallowed hard as she watched him begin to lube himself, watching his erection nearly double as he watched her ass tremble in fear and feel the smoothness of the lube against his cock. "Yes. I trust you."

"But you are still afraid."

"This is a very vulnerable position and I can get very hurt. I don't embrace vulnerability and I certainly don't embrace that kind of hurt. So yes, I am afraid."

He started to lube and stretch her which with his gloved hand was both extremely erotic and also did nothing to decrease her fear. In his full gear, and with Batman's personality fully in place, he was intimidating and she told him that.

"I will not hurt you. But if you want me to stop, say the word." She nodded her head as he started to enter her very slowly until he filled that extraordinarily tight, irregular sheath. He could not completely get himself inside her, the channel wasn't that deep, but he was about half way. He started to move slowly, feeling every groove and furrow in that rarely used and unyielding channel. Soon his speed was almost as fast as when he was inside her other more forgiving channel. She was moaning and crying out, but it didn't sound like pain, and he could feel the orgasms cascading around him even if they came from the other wall. He couldn't last long in this tightness and soon he poured what was left of him after a night like no other. He remained there for a few minutes enjoying the view of her ass offered up to him, his staff empty but still large embedded in her. He waited till their breathing returned to normal before pulling out. He quickly picked up the still warm washcloths and cleaned her up, and then cleaned himself.

The dawn was rising and the light was coming through the curtains. Batman stood her up in front of him, even though her legs felt like jelly after so much sex and so many orgasms. He hands stroked through her hair, even if he couldn't feel the softness through the gloves, it was a habit from Bruce. But it was still Batman with her. He would leave and Bruce would likely come back.

His deep and dark voice asked in the early dawn light, "Do you feel loved, Alina? Even by me?"

She answered with something barely more than a whisper, "Yes."

"Did I hurt you or humiliate you?"

"No, definitely not."

"Do you trust me to do what I have said I will?"

"Yes, without a doubt."

"I love you Alina. I know you love Bruce, but maybe somewhere in there you can find a place for me in your heart as well."

"Yes. I love you too. Thank you for tonight. I am left speechless and wanting more."

He smiled under his mask, "You Alina are never speechless. But I appreciate the sentiments just the same." He ducked his head in acknowledgement and turned with a sweep of his cape and was gone from the room.

Alina pulled the heavy curtains over the windows to darken the room and took a brief shower, washing her hair and every part of her body. Her body had sustained something like what she had experience at school. Her body felt well used, well loved, and well gratified. After her shower, she climbed back into a well-used bed, and waited for Bruce to join her. She didn't have long to wait. It was definitely Bruce and he made love to her like it was their first time, to reclaim her from Batman, to fill her with his own seed, to know that she still loved him. Alina and Bruce spent the day naked and in bed, recovering from the night before, making love, and talking in whispers to not disturb the silence in the sanctuary that is their bedroom. Even Alfred did not disturb them, simply leaving food and beverages outside the door. Alina didn't say anything at the time in case she was wrong, but she was sure they had made a baby that night or morning. They were in love and they were happy. And for now, nothing could spoil that happiness.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Chapter 16**

* * *

A/N: My strengths as a writer, assuming I have some, are not in car chases and gadgets. I have done bombs, cold blooded murder, assassination, stalking, vampires, mysticism, religion/philosophy, kidnapping, rape, slash, and some very graphic sex, but I have never done comic book gadgets and car chases. Bear with me through the next couple of chapters. love_devil_movies_baby does it so much better I'm sure.

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 16

We search for an answer,  
And when it appears  
We can challenge the world with our sweat and our tears.  
Through winning and losing,  
The brave never bend,  
The hero keeps fighting, standing tall in the end.

Time can change anything...and mend any fall.  
The moment of truth is facing us all,  
It's time for the hero to stand tall.

We carry the flame  
For all to see  
The fire and the passion, of what we can be.  
Sometimes we must fight,  
But we never bend  
The hero keeps fighting, standing tall in the end.

Love can change anything...it's inside of us all  
To reach out a hand whenever we fall.  
It's time for the hero to stand tall.

It's a time for heroes,  
Time to answer the call,  
It's a time for the hero to stand tall.  
It's a time for heroes,  
When our back's to the wall  
It's a time for the hero...in us all.

Time for Heroes, Meatloaf

Alina and Bruce didn't have long to enjoy their peace and joy. After a day of lounging in bed enjoying each other, talking, making love, and generally being very happy for the first time in a long time, the early warning system at Arkam Asylum went off. The Joker had escaped. They knew it would happen and they immediately went to the lower levels to get dressed and ready for battle. Alina voiced some hope they would be able to apprehend him quickly and without bloodshed, but Bruce just lifted an eyebrow at her and pulled his mask on.

They had been experimenting with how much distance could be between them before their telepathy no longer worked. They were pleased to find as long as they were within a mile of each other, they could still communicate. They whispered a shared _"I love you, be safe,"_ and drove out of the caverns. The first stop was the Asylum where they visited Joker's cell, stepping over the bodies of several guards, uncomfortably finding a disgusting mattress and smuggled magazines and photographs of Alina. Commissioner Gordon was there looking hopelessly over the wreckage. The Joker had opened the doors to almost every madman in the city, including Two-faced Harvey Dent. Batman could not imagine he had enough contact with the inmates to form any kind of coalition, so he probably did it for destructive purposes alone. The Joker had drawn on the wall of his cell a perfect rendition of a wedding but instead of Bruce Wayne marrying Alina Witter, it was the Joker's face.

Commissioner Gordon cleared his throat, "Obviously his target is Alina Witter. We need to alert Bruce Wayne immediately."

Batman said quietly "Yes, I'll take care of that. I know he was beefing up security at the mansion. How many inmates escaped? Rounding them up should be our first priority, the less of them around raising hell the more we can target Two-face and the Joker. What happened to the guards?"

"Apparently he created a shiv from a piece of his bed and killed every guard he came across which was most of them. This was a bloodbath Batman."

Batman was silent as he surveyed the damage, the blood strewn everywhere, the photographs of Alina, and the cum-soaked mattress. Joker's madness had clearly gone over into full blown obsession of the most dangerous kind. They had yet to see how it would play out in the city, the streets, and with Bruce Wayne's family. One thing was certain, that line he and Alina discussed so often had moved. If he got the chance, he would kill Joker.

"Commissioner, you should know that when we find Joker, he will not be returning to the Asylum. He will be dead. As will any of his cronies that harm any citizens of Gotham. Batman and the White Queen will no longer tolerate just helping the police capture these monsters only to see them escape again and again. What will you do about that?"

Commissioner Gordon responded surprising both Batman and the White Queen, "Batman, White Queen, by the powers invested in me, I hereby deputize you. Do what you must to secure the city. They have killed many, and will continue to do so. Some may say that Justice calls for trials, appeals, incarceration etc. And in many cases this is correct. But I am putting Gotham under martial law, complete with curfews. Anyone out after dark who is not law enforcement or National Guard will be shot on sight. These monsters, as you call them, have an undeclared bounty on their head and if killing them solve more of the city's problems, then so be it. In this case, Justice is not blind and sees exactly the evil confronting the city. She does not turn a blind eye to our need for vengeance."

Batman said, "Our plan will be to round up the majority of the prisoners who escaped, both violent and non violent and have the police return them to where they belong. The more interference we can remove, the more likely we can find Joker and Harvey Two-face. Be sure to tell your people not to shoot at us. This is serious enough not to have to fight two sides. And Commissioner Gordon, you should send your family away for the time being. They are not safe in Gotham."

Commissioner Gordon said, "Of course, I will send them tonight. Thank you. And Batman, I am glad you no longer fight alone."

The White Queen responded in her soft intimate voice, she sang the words to a song that seemed trapped in her head, "'Love can change anything...it's inside of us all. To reach out a hand whenever we fall. It's time for the hero to stand tall.'" Both men were enthralled even when she stopped the brief tune. After the brief tune she continued to speak softly, "I am honored to be able to stand beside Batman to fight the corruption, the evil that impacts our city. It may turn into an all out war, so please Commissioner, get your family out."

With that, the Black Knight and his White Queen disappeared into the darkness. They headed to their respective vehicles and raced in separate directions into the night. They spent hours pinning criminals and the escaped insane to cement pylons under bridges until the police could recover them. There was no sign of Joker or Two-face.

_Two weeks later…_

Both Bruce Wayne and Alina Witt were feeling the strain of meeting their evening social engagements only to have to also meet the requirements for Batman and the White Queen. Joker and Two-face were the only remaining escapees from the Asylum, and while the intrepid duo continued to search methodically throughout the city, there seemed to be 'no joy' on capturing the fugitives. The Joker and Two-face remained at large causing mayhem and ruin wherever they went.

The catastrophe impacting the city was the hardest on the lower class families. They could no longer count on being able get their children fed, or have heat in the chill of the night. All city utilities were being toyed with by the Joker and whatever cronies he had left. Each night the Joker attacked more of Gotham's infrastructure—Monday he took out water city-wide, Tuesday there were eight multi-block power outages, Wednesday all traffic lights went out, Thursday it was the water again. He was creating panic in some quarters and inconvenience in others. Food deliveries were also being affected as all traffic into the city was blocked or the bridges blown. Food was being flown in by socially responsible companies such as Wayne Enterprises and others. The White Queen had taken as her primary mission to help those bravely suffering through difficult times. She left boxes of food, clothing and coats, blankets for the disenfranchised at their doors, or wherever they were living. She especially felt for the families with children. She was nicknamed the Madonna of the Disenfranchised. She found the attention embarrassing and dangerous, but she would not stop, especially because this was being done by the Joker to force the city to turn Alina Witter over to him. Her deliveries were made in the dark of night, but still people seemed to know who was behind the kindness. She was proud of her city and its refusal to turn over one of their own to a madman, despite the hardships they were forced to endure.

One night while searching, Batman thought he saw someone on top of the roof tower where Rachel was killed. Surely it wouldn't be Two-face, something so obvious?

Batman spoke to the White Queen through the com link letting her know what he had seen. He was going up. "I have a bad feeling about this Batman. Stay safe."

"Yeah, me too. You stay safe too."

Batman climbed the stairs of a building opposite where he had seen someone, maybe just a shadow, probably nothing at all. He used his heat seeking vision and captured a fading signature, like a ghost had been there. He flew across the space between buildings, landing right on top of where Rachel had been sitting when the bomb went off. Sorrow immediately overwhelmed him and he just as immediately blocked it from his mind. Rachel was gone, Alina was here, and his life was great, if he could just get Joker and Two-face. Batman looked around at the abandoned sheet metal, large amount of ash, and even part of the phone Rachel had spoken to Dent with. After the explosion the building had been abandoned and everything left as it was that night. The despair from that night came back as he thought of Rachel agreeing to marry Dent even as she knew one of them would die. He knew she never doubted Batman would come for her, until those final moments when she heard Dent's rescue. Batman always intended to rescue Rachel, and because of the twisted prank played by Joker he saved Harvey Dent who once was his friend and was now part of the evil contaminating the city. Even that temporary distraction of reminiscing created an opportunity for Two-face to rise like a Phoenix from the thick coat of ash on the floor of the roof and shoot an air syringe through his leg guards and into his body. As Batman lost consciousness he sent a telepathic message to Alina, "I will love you forever." As his world faded to black, he hit the self destruct button for his vehicle and the electrical protection on the suit so even if they had captured him, they could not remove any part of the suit.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Chapter 17**

* * *

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 17

I've given up on giving up slowly, I'm blending in so  
You won't even know me apart from this whole world that shares my fate  
This one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption  
because I know to live you must give your life away  
And I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and  
I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the key  
And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me  
And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because  
I gotta get outta here  
I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake  
I gotta get outta here  
And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging You to be my escape.

I'm giving up on doing this alone now  
Cause I've failed and I'm ready to be shown how  
He's told me the way and I'm trying to get there  
And this life sentence that I'm serving  
I admit that I'm every bit deserving  
But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

Be my Escape, Relient K

Alfred drove Alina around town for two days and two nights, hoping to find the homing beacon, using telepathy and the com link. If Batman had been able to turn on the electrical protection there was no way they could pull the suit off to either uncover his identity or discover his com. Knowing that Joker would almost certainly escape and how desperate the Joker was to possess her, Bruce had persuaded Alina to have a homing beacon put into her blood stream. She would only do it as long as he did it himself. Through their love and mind connection, Alina was sure she would know if he was dead. Her heart told her he was not, drugged perhaps, but not dead. Not yet.

Alina remembered with fear the message Two-face put in the paper for the White Queen. 'Batman to be tried for crimes against humanity, particularly the murder of Rachel Dawes', she recalled with perfect clarity. 'This trial will be held secretly as Harvey Dent/Two-face will be prosecuting. Batman's defense attorney will be the White Queen, should she choose to appear.' That one stung like it was supposed to. The message continued with his typical arrogance. 'Two-face will be prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.'"

Alina sat in the lower Batcaves, terrified and infuriated. Even though it was an obvious trap, of course the White Queen would come to his rescue, but how? She could not tell where he was, there were no clues in the message. She felt helpless, and that was a feeling that she not only despised, it was also one that she had not felt before. If necessary, _she_ would be the one to burn the city down to find Batman. How did that make her any different than the Joker, who lived to see the city burn? She didn't live for that, but if that is what it took to save Batman, she would do it.

Alina's head jerked up when she heard Bruce's voice in her head. It was clear and specific.

Bruce's voice sounded weary even in her head. "_I'm in some_ _k__ind of lower caverns, filled with sewer water. I'm afraid I'm not going to smell too great when you get me out. I can hear traffic above. They have not been able to remove the costume yet. Dent clearly intends to find me guilty and kill me. Is the homing beacon not working?_"

_Alina sent her telepathic message back to Bruce, filled with love and hope. "We have driven all over town and haven't found you. But if you are below ground maybe I should be too. Bruce, you can't be more than a mile from me or the telepathy would not work. The message in the newspaper said the White Queen was to come and represent you as your lawyer. It is an obvious trap. But I would gladly turn myself over for your safety_."

Bruce's fury at her suggestion screamed through her mind. "_This __is__ a trap for the White Queen, Alina. You will not turn yourself over to him. They will kill me regardless if you come or not, and who knows what the Joker will do to you. I forbid it. The Joker knows who you are, although I don't think Dent knows who I am. I think there is another way. You can reach the courtroom and snipe him out._"

Alina smoothly tried to calm him with her mind voice. "_You would come for me regardless of the danger. I will come for you, but I will not waltz in there ready to do legal battle with Dent. Don't forget, I read everyone's mind. I'll have all my senses out. They will not get me, they won't even see me. Will the Joker be there at the trial? Or will he be waiting somewhere else?_"

Bruce answered her, "_I think he will be waiting here, thinking you will show up to represent me."_

"_Tell me about the courtroom and possible sniper nests in the courtroom."_

Bruce started to describe the room. _"The courtroom looks like a standard courtroom. It is located in a huge open space. It must be a cavern of some type. The caverns are underneath the city and go on forever, just as they do with the Batcaves. The courtroom itself has a witness box, a judge's bench, a jury box, and a place for gallery seating. No doubt my fans will be sitting there. (Alina laughed in his mind at his dry sarcasm). The floor is high enough that the sewage and sludge only cover the floor, but not too deep. There are a lot of pipes surrounding the courtroom, big pipes that would move a lot of water, or sewage. There is moss growing on everything. You could easily blend in especially if you covered yourself in the moss. They have me in some Chinese hinged cuffs that are impossible to pick. You'll have to shoot the middle hinge to release me."_

"_Jesus Christ Bruce, I'm good but honestly…"_

Bruce snickered in her head, "_Baby, I've seen you shoot a target between the eyes a mile away, you can do this. It's child's play for you."_

Alina had been wandering through the various openings into the Batcaves while they talked and had finally found Batman's direction and had a good idea where he was. "_I've got your location. Do you want me to come in now or wait until the trial starts?_"

"_Wait for the trial. We can get Dent and maybe the Joker too. Watch for traps from the Joker. He cannot get you. I couldn't stand to lose you. His obsession with you could only end badly."_

Alina knew what she needed to do. As a sniper, she could sit for hours in the nest she found. She needed to prepare. "_Just like Dent couldn't get you. I love you baby. I'm going to get ready for tonight. When you are ready for me to shoot your cuffs, hold your arms away from your body with the cuffs aligned with your body. I can hit them and not hit you."_

Bruce hated that she had to do this, and loved her all the more for her bravery. "_See you in a few hours. I love you baby. More than you can ever know."_

Alina was in his mind so much she knew how he felt but wanted to end their conversation on a hopeful upbeat note. "_Good! You can show me tonight after I rescue your ass, and after you've had a couple showers. You know how picky I am. Tonight, my lover, tonight."_

The White Queen made her way through the underground pipes that Bruce had described watching for heat signatures and traps, but so far had found none. The pipes leading to where Bruce was being held were directly outside the Batcaves. That design flaw would have to be destroyed immediately. Alina inched her way down the pipes finding she could use her leg strength to circle around the pipes, not all the way, they were too big for that, but it did help her movement be slow and easy. It took her a while but she arrived there hours before the trial was to start. She could settle in, moss covered, with her costume blending into the piping. No one would ever see her. She found her sniper's position, and let Batman know through telepathy. He briefly acknowledged but stayed silent otherwise to provide her the concentration she needed. She kept her sensors out for anyone coming up from behind, beside, or below her. After being in the Joker's mind, she would be able to sense him from some distance.

She waited patiently in the stench and moss, rats crawling along the pipes and over her. She'd been through worse, and this was for a greater cause. She would not fail him. Soon, one of Two-face or Joker's goons dragged Batman into the witness stand, the gallery of felons booed and hissed at Batman as he sat there still and patient. Next, the 'jury of his peers' was brought in, made up of more mayhem makers. And then, finally Two-face walked in, embraced by an enthusiastic crowd. He was flipping his infamous coin and talking his insanity of making our own luck and how luck was on his side today. He started softly singing the old show tune "Luck Be a Lady Tonight." Alina could barely make it out, but Marlon Brando he was not, and since this whole thing was rigged, there was no luck involved.

Two-face looked dramatically around the courtroom, and then at Batman who continued to look straight ahead. He walked directly to him and dipped his head to taunt him. "Looks like your White Queen chose not to show up to defend you. I guess she isn't as much of a partner as you thought. Well, no defense makes it easier for me to be judge… I won't have to play both roles."

Two-face started his diatribe. "Batman, and the man behind the mask, has taken it upon himself to override the justice system in this town and provide vengeance and retribution to those criminals who would otherwise be going about their normal business. When Joker gave him the choice of saving Rachel Dawes, a beautiful and intelligent woman, the love of Harvey Dent's life and his bride to be, or saving Harvey Dent, he chose to save Harvey Dent, now known as Two-face. Rachel would have continued to fight for good in the city, and instead Two-face seeks to destroy it. Batman made the wrong choice." Two-face went on about the evils of Batman, the need for vengeance, and revenge for his lost love. He moved as gracefully around the "courtroom" as was possible given the sewage and muck that made it truly a sick stunt, not worthy of his true gifts when he was DA.

Alina quickly grew bored of Two-face's theatrics and ill from the smell and sensed more danger ahead. All of Dent's movements would not protect him from her scope. She lined him up in her cross-hairs and fired, dropping him where he stood, a small hole in the front of his head and a large one in the back. His brains splattered all over the sewage and moss covered floor. Two-face had died quickly and painlessly, never knowing what hit him or where it came from. Batman said "NOW" in her ear piece and she shot the middle hinge off the cuffs, releasing him immediately. Alina remained in place to cover Batman's escape, the Batmobile was waiting above the sewer chamber where they currently were. There was still no sign of the Joker. Batman rapidly wrapped the 'jury' and the 'gallery' up in his unbreakable wire for the police to deal with. He stopped by Two-face, using the powerful magnet in his glove to extract the bullet from his head as a precautionary measure. She watched him escape to the surface, policed her brass, and rapidly moved out of the area, returning eventually to the Bat Caverns where Batman had already arrived. She quickly changed out of her White Queen outfit and into tights and a t-shirt.

Bruce was in the shower for a long time. The smell of sewage had seeped into his nose and pores. Bruce thought he might never get it out. Alfred was already steam cleaning the Batsuit from all the filth and days of wearing it without release. It needed a lot of hot water and power steaming to get it back to something he could wear. The White Queen outfit would need cleaning as well from the moss and rats but was in no way in as bad of shape as the Batsuit.

Alina wandered over to the not-very-private shower and smiled at Bruce. "_I believe you promised me that you were going to show me just how much you love me."_ Even though she was talking in his head, she still managed that voice that made him think of sex and sin and not much else. His body responded just as they both knew it would.

Bruce was tired and in pain, but still passionately desired his future bride. His voice was deep with lust and longing._ "Baby, don't tease. You don't want me like this. I will need a while in the shower. But I will meet you upstairs. I think Batman and his White Queen are done for the night."_

Alina's voice got serious. "_Maybe even the week. You've been doped up and held captive for more than two days. You need to rest."_

Bruce's continuing obsession with capturing the Joker came through in his telepathic voice._ "I'll give a night, maybe two. A week will have to be negotiated."_

A frustrated Alina responded,_ "Bruce! You were just held hostage. That is unheard of. Batman never lets himself get caught. There is clearly a weakness in your suit and mine. Lucius will have to address that immediately. There is a weakness in the tunnels and access to the Batcaves that needs to be resolved immediately as well. We have left the door open to anyone who wants to get into Batman's lair __or__ Bruce Wayne's home. We need to regroup. Now we just have one guy to go after, and he wants me. He has been quite clear. We need a new plan. You say he knows who I am, that makes me a target every day and every night."_

Bruce sighed, she was right of course. His obsession was driving him instead of common sense. It was a good way to get one or both of them killed._ "I'll meet you upstairs. I am too tired to argue with you right now. I want to make love to you violently and consume you doing it. And then I want to sleep."_

Alina softly stroked his mind, calming him immediately_. "I will wait for you, baby."_

Alina softly walked through the darkened halls of Wayne Manor. She loved the feel of the plush carpet beneath her feet, and the soft lighting that kept everything dim but still lit. It made this huge, still mostly empty mansion into a home. She slipped into her room quietly, lighting candles in her wake, tossing her clothes in the hamper and climbing into the hot shower. She bathed herself in the flower scented soap and shampoo she always used, sending Bruce images of what she was doing, how it felt, how she smelled. She even ran her hands across her soapy wet body letting him feel her hardened nipples, her tight stomach, her fingers entering her sweet spot. She felt him gasp as he grew intensely hard, as her scent surrounded him in the shower 7 floors down from where she was comfortably ensconced.

Bruce's deep, heavily aroused voiced spoke in her head, "_You are an evil witchy woman_."

"_I know you don't mean that. Listen to me while I sing to you, lying in our bed waiting for you._

_Can you hear me out there?  
Have you ever had someone who loved you  
Never leave your side?  
I know you'll be here because you love me, yes, you do_

I'm givin' all my life and all my love if you  
Promise me that you'll be here forever  
I'll give you all of me, I'll give you everything  
If you promise me you'll never leave me

You love me, you complete me  
You hold my heart in your hands  
And it's okay 'cause I trust that  
You'll be the best man that you can  
Baby, you love me, yeah, oh yes, you do, yeah

You Complete Me, Keyshia Cole

She finished the last couple of lines as he entered their room. He had a large towel around him, his hair still dripping wet, and from his elevated breathing it sounded like he had been rushing to get to her. He threw himself on the bed almost on top of her but off to the side slightly.

"God, I love you Alina. I love that you can be in my head and we can have no secrets. I love that you sing to me the perfect song for the moment that I'm feeling. I need you desperately. I need to be inside you now. No preliminaries, I just need to fill you urgently."

Alina laughed softly at his desperation, "I, and my body, are entirely at your disposal Master Wayne. I am your gift. Take of it what you will."

He rolled himself above her holding his weight on his elbow, his other hand sliding down her soft skin quickly brushing her breast and hardened nipple, stroking her stomach, reaching her hip where his thumb pushed into her making sure she was ready for him. While his needs were urgent he never wanted to take her before she was ready. Alina would always accommodate him, but he would always make it good for her too. He lined up their bodies and thrust into her quick and fast, pounding into her slowly at first, just feeling in the moment the ridges and valleys of her heated channel. As his urgency increased, he began to frantically thrust inside her, trying to consume her fire, her sustenance, her love. His urgency combined with his larger than usual size drove her to her first orgasm and then another one followed immediately clamping down on his staff in her channel. Her body squeezed him without mercy even as he continued to pound her, ultimately giving in and releasing his hot seed into her womb. He stayed inside her feeling the tiny aftershocks.

Once the aftershocks stopped, Alina realized he had fallen asleep on top of her. She shifted her hips slightly and let him slide off of her a little so she wasn't being crushed by his weight. She stroked his still wet hair and down his back. She could feel the raised bruises from the beatings he must have taken. As she ran her hands through his hair, she could feel the welts that were there as well. She slid herself completely out from under him so she could examine the injuries more closely. She gasped quietly as she took in the damage on his back and legs. He had hidden the damage from her when he was showering. It looked like they had used baseball bats on him. In some places, burns had gone right through the suit's protection. It would have had to have been a powerful tool to cause this much damage. He was in their hands for two days and two nights. With the suit, he could have continued to withstand the damage, but eventually its power source would have given out and a beating like this would have killed him.

She carefully left the bed hoping to not wake him retrieving some Arnica oil for the bruises and burns. It made a wonderful base for massage oil. She poured some chamomile oil, white oak bark oil, comfrey oil, which were all good for bruises, burns, and tissue repair. She added a drop or two of her star gazer lily oil to make it remind him of her. Since he was already sleeping on his stomach, she began her massage on his back. She worked her massage oil into the welts and raised bumps on his scalp. Then slid her hands down his neck, seeking out those places in his neck and shoulders that would force the rest of the muscles to release. She carefully rubbed her mixture into each and every bruise or cut. He moaned slightly and his breathing changed from being asleep to being awake. Her hands never stopped their movement along his body, rubbing and embracing every bruise, every burn, and every cut. He moaned again and spoke softly in her head, "_What are you doing? It feels wonderful. I didn't want you to see this though."_

Alina softly answered him._ "I am massaging your sore muscles. Rubbing this special oil into all your hurts will heal the bruises and burns. I know it might sting a little, but that is the antiseptic properties. Being kept where you were, and beaten this badly, I don't see how you could not get infected. Even the suit would not have been able to protect you."_

Bruce agreed, _"Alfred thought the same thing and gave me some broad spectrum antibiotics."_

"_Rest my love. You need sleep. I will touch and start to heal all your pains, but your biggest contribution is to sleep. Is there something you would like for me to sing?"_

"_I am not a religious man as we have talked about, but could you maybe sing "Amazing Grace" or "Like Holy Water" by Big and Rich. Those songs are both soothing and quiet to me. And you can sing them forever and never run out of words."_

She immediately started singing Amazing Grace. It was such a passionate and spiritual song about the change God can make in people's lives. She sang it in her deep reverent voice, and without a hint of sex lingering there. The last thing Bruce needed right now was for her to seduce him in his exhaustion. She'd burned the damn suit if he spent anything less than two days in bed.

"_The suit doesn't burn baby." _Bruce had been listening in her head, picking up her thoughts.

Alina was irritated and determined he would stand down for at least a week._ "It will if you think to wear it before you are healed. Don't test me Bruce. I'll incinerate the damn thing. Drift off to sleep and quit hanging out in my mind. No telling where that might lead you."_

"_That's sorta what I was hoping." _Bruce sleepily said, sending her a sexy image.

_"Perv."_ She snickered in her mind at his sleepy reverie and continued her massage.

His gluts were his personal power machine. She had seen him leap great heights without the benefit of the suit, just powered by his ass. She rubbed harder here because the muscles were so much more tense than any place else. Once she had released that tension to almost complete moaning, she moved down his legs until she reached his toes. She massaged and released each of his toes. She whispered gently in his mind, _"Baby, I'm going to roll you over now, ok?"_

She got a sleepy aroused groan and nothing else, including help turning him over. One she had him turned over she examined his wounds on his front. Her breath caught when she saw the swelling on his face. The mask had probably kept it from swelling, and with the mask off, it had become severe. Her fingers lightly followed the injuries down his body finding more baseball bat bruises and burns. Even his balls and penis seemed to have taken some damage, although he is well protected there so that damage was mitigated.

Once again she began her massaging journey from his hair and the swelling on his face to his neck, down his shoulders and each arm and both hands and every finger. She massaged every bruise and bump on his beautiful chest, leaving butterfly kisses in her wake. She reached his erect staff, weeping fluid. She took her well oiled hands and gently started to stroke him. He gave her an answering moan of pleasure, not of pain. He might be mostly asleep, but he was very aware of what she was doing. She leaned over him whipping her tongue out licking that spiral of cum that was leaking. In her mind to him she broke her song and asked, _"Baby, do you want me to take you all the way on this? Does it hurt? It looks like there is some bruising but not terrible."_

"_All the way, Alina. Like only you can."_

Alina didn't respond to his last statement just started licking that most sensitive spot behind the head, pointing her tongue to follow the vein to his root. She cupped his balls in her oily mixture squeezing and spinning them gently, all the while moving her mouth and tongue along the head and then sealing her lips down his shaft pulling the whole thing into her heated mouth. Bruce moaned as she pulled up slowly sucking her way to the top. She continued this motion, her hands and mouth heated in the oil she had created. And it was heated, more so than her normal mouth. He woke up enough to start pushing her mouth faster and faster, but while friction and heat were building, the oil made it more difficult to complete the act. Without even opening his eyes, and surprising Alina, Bruce pulled her up and on top of him, piercing her body with his staff completely. She screamed in surprise and at the intensity of the sensation. He moved her hips powerfully up and down, leaving unintentional bruises in his wake, until finally he flipped her under him and drove with his powerful gluts and thigh muscles until he could reach his conclusion.

They both laid there breathing very hard, unable to catch their breath. That had been intense for both of them.

"Did I hurt you, Alina?" Bruce was still panting. He was already semi-hard and could go again, which seemed impossible for both of them.

Alina laughed at his concern given his own beaten and torn body. "I'll have a few bruises of my own come tomorrow, but nothing I haven't already experienced. But this was you Bruce, not Batman. Could you tell the difference?"

Bruce paused, thinking, "Yeah, it was your love. I didn't fracture into two separate pieces this time. I can be just as rough as Batman and he can be just as gentle as me. We are one now."

Alina agreed. "Yeah, I think so, at least here in the bedroom. Out in the outer world, I don't know. But I think we are done with massages for tonight. I'll lie here and hold you and sing "Holy Water" while you fall back asleep. I love you Bruce Wayne. Don't you dare let Batman or Bruce get killed before our wedding and our children."

"I would not defy your wishes on that score. I love you Alina. Never leave me." Bruce sounded desperate to protect her and what would be their family some day.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby." She started to sing softly filling the room with her sexy voice and the candlelight danced along with the slow sad song. "'Somewhere there's a stolen halo, I use to watch her wear it well, Everything would shine wherever she would go, But looking at her now you'd never tell  
Someone ran away with her innocence, A memory she can't get out of her head, I can only imagine what she's feeling, When she's praying, Kneeling at the edge of her bed…'" (Holy Water, Big and Rich)

A/N: The inspiration of Two-face holding trial in the sewer comes from Dark Victory, by Jeph Lobe and Tim Sale. In their story, it was the Calendar Man in the witness box, not Batman, and instead of sewers, it just looks like someplace underground. It was a single image in a mass of images that my muse clung to. So while the whole scenario is my own, I did get inspiration from my very first comic book. I guess I'm not a comic book virgin anymore. I was however surprised at how much imagery from The Godfather appears throughout the frames. I've heard it said there are only a limited number of plots in the world and we, as a society, just keep reusing and combining them again and again in different ways. I did like all those gluts, abs, and thighs though, very impressive indeed. I thought Christian Bale was hot, but he seems downright skinny compared to the Batman in the Dark Victory comic.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Chapter 18**

* * *

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 18

I'm all alone tonight,  
No stars are shining on me  
I'm thinkin' I'd be alright  
If somebody would just call me, yeah

Save Me  
I need somebody's help here  
Thought it would be alright but  
I'm not pullin' through on my own  
Is anyone around who can Save Me  
I'm fallin' down it's crazy  
If this is the pain God gave me,  
I'm cool with that,  
But wont somebody Save Me

Cause I'm human after all  
And I could not catch my fall  
And nobody ever came around my way  
to check up on me and see if I was doin' alright  
Nobody came to Save Me

Save me, Jordon Sparks (edited)

Two weeks went by while Bruce healed and Lucius modified the suits to protect against invasion of any kind, including powerful needles and syringes. He extended the life of the power packs as well. The White Queen made brief appearances leaving food and blankets to families and the homeless, but she felt relatively safe doing this small bit for the besieged city. The TV news and papers were all wondering what had happened to Batman after his trial. Had he been killed, executed? Had the White Queen shown up to defend him? The police had eventually arrived at the alleged courtroom and arrested the 'jury' and 'gallery', and found Two-face's body lying face down in the sewage as seemed fitting to many. There was no body of Batman, although they did find a room where he had obviously been beaten and burned. The evidence was all gathered, tagged, and filed to be permanently lost in the never-ending file boxes in the evidence locker. How Two-face was killed seemed to be of little concern, and since there was no bullet to work with, that investigation got dropped as well.

Soon Batman reappeared on the scene staying close to the White Queen, but hidden from view. She was deliberately baiting the Joker, following the same schedule and the same route on the same nights. She seemingly was his for the taking. On one of her sojourns into the slums of the city, leaving food and comfort items, she came upon one of the houses she always left food for. She had even come into their home once when they found her delivering her gifts. The father was out of work due to a downturn in the economy. The manufacturing plant he worked for was shipping their business overseas and he was a casualty of the change. The mother stayed home with their two young children, piece sewing when she could find the work. There was a baby girl less than a year old, and a small skinny boy of four named Henry. The White Queen was quite taken with the family and the children and often brought toys, formula, and diapers for them.

When she found the box of food still outside the door she immediately knew something was dreadfully wrong. They did not have the resources to leave town, and would have left her a message even if they had. She slid her night vision goggles down so she could see into the darkness better, looking for heat signatures and traps. This was definitely a trap. Every instinct she had screamed 'TRAP,' but she would not leave the children behind if they were still here.

Alina spoke in her head to Batman, _"They have set a trap for me. I'm in the slum district on Fry Street, brownstone C. I can't leave until I know what happened to the children. You need to get here fast."_

"_Do not go in until I am in position."_ Bruce urged her to please listen to him this time.

"_I'll wait, but hurry. The children might be dead already, but they might still be alive inside." _Alina reached out with all her mind power, trying to sense where people might be, where the children might hide, any clue at all.

She heard a slight rustle by the overflowing trashcans, probably a rat, maybe a big rat she shivered, but maybe a child. She walked closer to the sound, picking up a small heat signature, a child. She had her gun out and her knife palmed just in case. She rounded the trashcan and saw a dirty, barely clothed Henry staring back at her. His eyes were huge against his much to thin face, and his lips were cracked from a lack of water.

She opened her mind so Bruce could hear her as well as Henry hearing her words. "Hi, Henry. What are you doing out here? What has happened? The food and stuff I left last night are still on the porch."

He whispered to her, shivering now. "The bad men came. They killed my mom and dad. I heard them talk about hurting you too. I'm scared."

Alina almost cried at his concern for her, "I know baby, I know. We have to get your sister. Where is the baby? Did they kill her too?" She sent a message to Batman, her pain and anguish overwhelming her message, _"Batman, Joker dies for this. If you can't kill him, I will."_

Bruce responded to her, _"Alina, go cold. I am in place. I can see you and the boy. Do not get emotional right now. It is not the time. And I will kill the Joker. He will not haunt you anymore. I promise baby."_

Henry was answering Alina's question, "When the bad men came, my mom pushed me out the back door and told me to leave. She put Natasha in the secret place. I heard her cry for a long time. But she's been quiet now."

"It's ok, Henry. We are going to go get her. Is there anyone in there that you know of?"

Henry shook his head. "I don't think so. I've been hiding here the whole time."

That didn't do much to allay Alina's fears of a trap. "I don't know what it is like it there, so I want you to promise me to keep your eyes closed, and you have to tell me where the secret hiding place is so I can get Natasha. Can you promise me you won't look?" Alina was terrified of what the child might see inside.

"I won't look, but can't I stay out here? Do I have to go in?" Henry was terrified of the same thing. He didn't want to see what happened to his parents. It had not been a quiet death, but one of screaming, begging, and pleading. And he had heard it all. It would be on a recorder in his head forever.

"Henry, I don't want you to go in anymore than you do. But if I leave you here, someone might take you and use you to get to me. Neither of us want that either, do we?"

Henry shook his head violently, "One of them wants to do bad things to you. I didn't understand it all, but I knew it was bad."

Alina very gently said to Henry, "So Henry you are going to be the bravest you have ever been and go inside your apartment with me, keeping your eyes closed, and help me find your sister. If she is still alive, she needs our help right away. Can you do that for me Henry? Can you be really really brave? Batman kind of brave?"

He smiled at her slightly, "For you, I will be brave. For Natasha, I will be even braver."

Alina gave him a kiss on his dirty forehead, "That's my boy. I need you to be extra quiet alright? I can hear things in the night, and see things too. So if you are extra quiet, I can hear if someone is trying to trick us."

Henry nodded his head in understanding and didn't say another word.

Alina messaged to Batman, _"Henry and I are going into the apartment. I don't hear anything from inside. They may try to take me from the outside, more maneuverability. Coming out with the baby, assuming she is alive, my hands will be full and I won't be able to fight. __**THAT**__ is the trap. I just know it."_

"_Alina, you are probably right. That is what I would do. But stay on your toes inside as well. Keep talking to me so I know what is going on."_

Alina and Henry approached the door of the tiny brownstone. Even though the family was poor, the mother had worked hard to make their home inviting and comfortable. The porch was decorated with potted plants, and even a small flag still hung there from the last Fourth of July. Alina listened for sounds through the door and heard nothing. _"Batman, I don't hear anything inside. I don't see any trigger wires either. We are going in."_

"_Copy that, White Queen."_ Batman messaged back to her.

She entered the main room and stuffed her gasp into silence. She would grieve and deal with shock later. She quickly glanced at Henry and his eyes were squeezed tight. Alina was sure he could smell the stench of blood that coated everything. _"Bruce, my God. These people were savages. They couldn't just kill them. They tortured them as well and then ripped them to shreds. This is evil of the worst kind. These people were good and kind and generous. And sure as hell did not deserve this. There is a message written on the wall across from the door. It says, 'Alina Witter turns herself over to me within two days or more shall die just like this. Then he leaves a quote from Shakespeare, I never figured the Joker for the literary type. 'When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun.' It's from __MacBeth__ with the three witches. It sounds like he knows this is the showdown."_

Moving Henry and her rapidly yet carefully, watching for booby traps, she listened to Henry's whispered words leading her to the floorboards where the baby had been stashed. He still had his eyes tightly shut, but was holding his breath, terrified his baby sister had died because of his inability to act. The White Queen carefully used her sensors in her gloves to seek out smaller traps, and not finding any lifted the boards silently, finding the sweet baby Natasha laying quietly in her blanket sucking on the corner. Alina, knowing the baby could not understand, still put her finger to her lips motioning her to stay quiet. The baby never made a sound. She was clearly dehydrated and hungry, her eyes were sunken, and she desperately needed a diaper change. None of which she could do anything about at the moment.

"_Bruce, the baby is alive and quiet at this point. I'm going to gather a couple of bottles and diapers and the kids and I are out of here. I'm taking them to the Batcaves and then the house. This is going to be the time they will strike."_

"_I have your back, baby."_ Batman exuded confidence, just as Bruce Wayne always did. It made Alina feel his strength and know she could do this. She would have both arms full, and a diaper bag. Her movement would be extremely limited.

With Henry's eyes squeezed shut, and Natasha silently observing, Alina led them quietly out into the alleyway. She idly thought it was considered a street, but with all the trash filling it, it seemed more of an alley.

Bruce came in her mind, _"I see five men in formation coming around the corner. They're big, definitely Joker's goons. And Joker is walking to the other end of the alley, taking position right in the middle of the ally. It makes your escape from either end impossible."_

"_Batman, I'm going up with the children, get them to safety on the roof and then I'll be back."_

"_Alina! No! Go up, take the kids to your car, and leave. I can handle this." _His fear for her capture outweighed any of his other concerns.

"_It is six against one, and one of those is Joker. What if I snipe them from up there? I'll let you do Joker since you need to do that, and your need is greater than mine, but I can take out the gorillas."_

"_Fine Alina, but you are running out of time. Get up on the roof NOW!"_

"_We're gone." _She extended her arm, told Henry to hang on to her neck for dear life, while she clung to both Henry and the baby and with a flick of her hand they rocketed on the line launcher to the top of the opposite building.

She sat Henry down in an Indian style position, laid his sister in his lap, handed him a bottle and formula, and then ran to block the entrance to the roof. She ran back to the children, checking that Henry was indeed feeding his sister while she took up a quick sniper position. She aimed her cross-hairs at the middle gorilla and took him down, right between the eyes. She saw movement from across the other roof, another sniper. She quickly nailed him between the eyes and he went down. Her night vision goggles allowed her to quickly search the other rooftops and find no other snipers. Snipers for hire were hard to find, so it was not surprising there was only one. She returned her attention to the advancing goons, looking like they planned to enter the mano a mano fight between Batman and Joker. She ducked low and moved positions so she could once again shoot at the goons and not into Batman. As she picked them off one by one, others ran away. She followed their path from the rooftop, and took them out before they could enter the main street where she was sure to lose them. All that was left in the battle was the Joker and Batman.

Their fight was intense and very personal. Both in love with the same woman, if one could call Joker's feelings for Alina love. Punches flew, grappling ensued, and guns were kicked out and away from the other. It was very intense and there were several times when Alina just wanted to shoot Joker and end it. But this had to be done by Batman, by Bruce Wayne. He had to be able to kill someone as evil and vicious as the Joker.

Batman reached behind his back and brought out something small looking. Alina had never seen it before. With a quick snap of his wrist it slid into a full sized golden scythe. Joker froze for a moment, realizing maybe for the first time, that Batman fully intended to kill him, not just arrest him and put him back in the asylum. It was no longer a game, no longer a big joke, no longer a source for his sick laughter. In that frozen second, Batman swung his powerful arm, slicing cleanly through the Joker's neck, causing blood to spray up in a geyser from the Joker's body. Batman stood silently listening for the thud as Joker's head hit the ground before his body dropped beside it.

Batman wiped the blood off of the scythe onto Joker's clothing and folded it back up. Alina whispered in his mind, in his heart, _"I love you more than life itself."_

Tears formed in Batman's eyes, as his picked up his own discarded weapons and retrieved her bullets from the dead, _"As I do you. Now get those kids home safely. I think we have some adoption paperwork to get started."_

Batman, or rather Bruce, could feel her smile warm him all over.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Chapter 19**

* * *

White Queen to Black Knight

Chapter 19

In my life, there's been changes  
But nothing seems to satisfy me the way you do, no  
You make it easy, the way you please me, every time I'm close to you  
All this temptation, I can't see wrong from right  
Its a new sensation, you know I'm blinded by the light

(feels like) I'm walking on holy water  
Feels like I'm walking on sacred ground, baby  
(feels like) I'm walking on holy water, every time (that) you come round

You were all I ever wanted, never had a guy in my life til I met you, oh  
No  
I got a certain feeling, you got my senses reeling  
Whenever I get close to you  
You're my salvation, I found you just in time  
My one temptation, you know I can't believe you're mine

Holy Water, Bad Company

With the execution of the Joker and Two-face, along with a relatively few unknown others, the minds of Bruce Wayne and Alina Witter were firmly engaged in their wedding plans. Alfred was of course handling all the nitty-gritty details. The beautiful couple had hoped to keep it a quiet private ceremony, but once again the craving for Bruce's behind the scenes leadership brought the wedding and the couple to the forefront. There was even an article about them in GothamWeek, a prestigious news magazine. Their picture, in all their beauty and glory, was on the front cover. Alina scoffed at someone other than her taking the pictures, but photographs were photographs and they did send one of the best photographers in the world, so she conceded.

The couple spent many evenings over wine and sex talking about what they had done and the consequences that might be incurred. The White Queen felt no remorse at all for the killings she had committed. The people she killed were evil, were going to kill those she loved, and she struck first. She slightly teased Bruce with the quote, 'Better to ask forgiveness then to seek permission.' She viewed it in clear black and white terms. Bruce was not nearly as torn as they both thought he would be. He felt he was protecting his own, and while he took no joy in killing the Joker, everyone was better off for it. And if left alive, the threat to Alina would only continue to grow, and that he refused to accept. It was the only logical solution. However, they both agreed it was time for the city to pick up where they left off and Bruce and Alina would lead their own mostly private lives.

The city overall seemed thrilled that the Joker and Two-faced were dead and could no longer cause the destruction and chaos they had in the past. The fact that Batman and the White Queen (it was widely assumed) had stood toe to toe with these monsters and by killing them took at least part of the city back seemed to empower the rest of the population to take back their city from the corrupters, the gangs, the thieves, and the killers. And those in positions of power, and those who wished to do good, started leading the process. Others were finally stepping up to carry the mantle that Batman had carried for so long. Bruce Wayne was heavily involved in this process and based on his experience, wealth, and true desire to do the right thing for the city, chose those who would serve to clean up the city.

Bruce was out at one of his meetings with the city leaders and planners trying to solve the overwhelming corruption problem that plagued the city. Alina casually walked into the kitchen to speak with Alfred. She was tired, the circles under her eyes were apparent when she was without makeup, and she had been losing weight at an alarming rate. Alfred had noticed, but other than her vomiting constantly, he had no idea why.

"Alfred, I need to tell you something, but I need you to keep it a secret until I tell Bruce. Can you do that?"

Alfred turned and looked at what had always been a deceptively fragile body that now did look more than fragile. He was afraid of what she might say. If she was dying, all would be lost.

Alfred sighed heavily. "You and Bruce don't have secrets from each other. Why would you want me to keep one for you?"

Alina smiled at him happily, teasing him, "First of all, Alfred you do keep Bruce's secrets. There are secrets between us, but perhaps none that matter. Secondly, Alfred you look like I am going to tell you I'm dying. It is certainly nothing like that, just the opposite in fact."

"What then? Stop toying with me Miss Alina." He knew what it was now and was very excited.

"I am pregnant, about ten weeks along. That is one reason I wanted to do this wedding fast. I want to tell Bruce tonight. The wedding is in two weeks. I am already starting to show if one looks. I'll need another fitting shortly. I was hoping you would prepare a candlelight dinner for two in our room. Food, champagne, water, and dessert. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds perfect."

"Wonderful! I've written out an invitation for him to join me privately in my quarters. You can give it to him. He is not to come earlier, and you are not to tell him anything. No hint at all. OK?"

"This is a secret that I will be very happy to keep. Little Henry and baby Natasha and I shall enjoy dinner and games on our own here in the kitchen. I shall see that they are both put to bed. I'll take the baby monitor into my quarters for the evening."

"Thank you Alfred. We should see about hiring a nanny soon. See you later."

She climbed the stairs and entered her room only to find Henry there, curled up in her bed. He had nightmares most nights, and the only place he found solace was in her room and her bed. Alina smiled softly at him and curled up beside him surrounding him with her love. He woke up slightly as she wrapped her arms around him, smiled at her and said, "Mama," and fell back asleep. He had started calling her 'mama' soon after he came to stay. He was still not calling Bruce 'daddy,' and despite both adult's assurances, he still believed they would send him back on the streets. The adoption of both children was moving smoothly and both Bruce and Alina worked hard to convince him he was part of their family, along with Natasha. They would live here now at Wayne Manor, and would be their children.

An hour later, Bruce returned from his meeting and was given the invitation by Alfred.

He read it quickly, and looked at Alfred. "What is this about Alfred? And what about Henry and Natasha? Who will be with them? And is this something I should dress up for? I mean, it's our bedroom, do I wear a suit or pajamas?"

Alfred was pleased to hear how attached he had become to Henry and Natasha already. That was a good sign, especially given the news that would be coming. "Master Wayne, Henry and I will entertain ourselves quite fine without you. I will have Natasha as well as the baby monitor for the night. I'm sure I couldn't say what this would be about. I have just been asked to prepare a dinner for your room, sir. Given what I do know, a suit or even tuxedo would be a nice touch."

"Which all translates to you knowing exactly what is going on, and that I will have to wait for Alina to tell me. The two of you conspire against me entirely too often." Bruce smirked at Alfred, snagging a fresh cookie fresh from the oven.

"Entirely sir. It keeps your life interesting." Bruce chuckled on his way out of the kitchen with his mouth full of cookie. Yes, his life was certainly interesting.

He softly opened the door to Alina's rooms. They were really their rooms now. He never went in the rooms considered his anymore. They would probably give those rooms over to Henry so he was close by when he had his nightmares. He crossed to the bedroom and found Alina encircling Henry while they both slept. Henry was still extremely traumatized and almost never slept at night because of the nightmares. Alina was constantly exhausted from her position as White Queen even though she had retired the night the Joker was killed. The long nights, and the constant daily activity drain of being the soon to be Mrs. Bruce Wayne left her tired, and she slept as often as she could.

And now she lay sleeping soundly, maybe a little too soundly. Either she was very very tired or she was losing her edge. Henry woke up smiling as Bruce Wayne silently walked into the room. Bruce came over to Henry, whispering in his ear, "You wanna go swimming? You think you are ready for some swim lessons?"

Henry smiled widely and slipped from under Alina's arms and into Bruce's while they went off to swim. Alina had barely stirred. Bruce sighed and kissed her briefly on her temple.

Four hours later, Alina was prepared for her candle lit dinner with her soon to be husband. She was excited to share her news, knew she should have weeks before, but the White Queen was too important and her and the baby's safety were not at great risk. She wore the silk satin nightgown that had never been worn, despite their earlier plans. Alina pulled her amazing hair up into a messy updo that made her neck and body look even longer. She put on the 60 ct. earrings Bruce had bought her after their engagement, and a large diamond drop necklace that fell right into her cleavage. Her eyes were painted dark as were her lips. She had covered her dark circles and she looked dramatic and beautiful. She hoped he would think so. Alfred rolled the cart into the room, leaving her to light the candles, bowed his head to her, smiled, turned and left.

Right on time Bruce entered the room, surprise all over his face at the dim lights, candles everywhere, and his beautiful bride standing in front of the dining table in the crème silk satin nightgown she had never worn. He was stunned as he softly closed the door behind him, locking the door as he removed his hand. She smiled seductively at him, using that voice his body craved, "Hello my darling. Welcome to our dinner of love."

"When did you come up with this? You look more beautiful that I have ever seen you. In the candlelight you glow."

"I have been thinking of it for a few weeks, but today finally decided to make it happen. We haven't had much you and me time."

He kissed her gently on the lips and took his place at the table. They enjoyed their delightful meal. Bruce noticed she wasn't drinking any of the champagne but didn't say anything about it. They talked and laughed as they usually could. Finally, before she brought dessert to him, she refilled his champagne glass and hers with sparkling water, and handed him a card with his name and the first letter written with illumination. Illumination is a detailed and intricate work of art. She might have spent days creating just the 'B' in Bruce.

Bruce looked at the card and then back to her. She could see concern, maybe even fear in his eyes. She leaned over him, kissing him passionately, and with her mind, _"Baby, this is a really good thing. At least I hope you think so. Open the card. I love you."_

He smiled slightly sliding his thumb under the flap, pulling out the card with the picture tucked in it. The card said a very simple 'Congratulations' on it. He smiled slightly and opened the card, taking out the black and white image on the paper. He wasn't quite sure what it was at first, until he took a closer look. He looked sharply up at Alina and then back down at the picture.

"We're going to have a baby?" He sounded so vulnerable and hesitant. He held his arms out open to her and she slid into them and onto his lap where his hands rested on the small bulge that formed in her abdomen.

"Actually baby, we are having two. Twins. Batman and Bruce Wayne," she quipped.

The look of wonder quickly changed to frustration, even anger. "How long have you known?"

"A while Bruce. I'm ten weeks, by our wedding I'll be into my second trimester. The White Queen had to play for a while, I wasn't showing and the babies weren't in real danger. We were so consumed with what we were doing that weeks passed by before I even knew. By then, we just had to get the Joker, and I was the only lure we had. I never believe either me or the babies were in danger. I blocked it from my mind so you wouldn't stop what we needed to finish. Please don't be angry. Bruce I was hoping you would share my excitement and joy. I prepared this whole night to tell you. I haven't told anyone else except Alfred and he just found out when I asked for dinner in our room. I was responsible when I was the White Queen _and _I knew. What is done is done. Are you happy about this?"

Bruce rolled his head to the side, burying his head in her hair and squeezed her closer to him. "I'm really, really happy that you are going to have my children, the first of my children, besides Henry and Natasha." He started to tease her, "Your wedding dress may have to be let out slightly. I can see and feel the bulge. Twins! You are going to get huge. We'll have to build a whole new wing to the mansion just for the kids!"

"I think there is plenty of room as it is. But we will have to hire a couple nannies."

Bruce immediately leaped on that idea, "Nannies?"

"Yes, my love. Alfred and I will find fat, ugly nannies with hairy faces and underarms who don't shave their legs, and that have moles with hair on their lips. They will of course love children, but not you."

Bruce pretended to be deflated by the idea, but laughed at her anyway. "Like there is a woman in the world who could compete with you, in any way. When do you think it happened? I guess maybe we have sex so often it is impossible to tell."

She smiled shyly at him, "I think I know. I knew that night. I just didn't say anything because I didn't want to be wrong. The night you came to me as Batman and came back as Bruce is the night I think we made these babies. Maybe that is why they are twins."

Bruce look at her seriously, "I love you Alina. I'm glad Joker and Two-face are out of our lives forever. I'm glad Batman and his Queen hung up their mantles. We have far too much to risk to ever pick them up again. I do not want to orphan our children, however many we have or adopt, like we were orphaned." He held her close breathing in the scent of her.

Alina sighed at the happiness she felt around her and started to sing him a song. She sang 'Holy Water' by Bad Company. She sang it slow and softly, while she took Bruce's hands and moved them around her growing belly. She sang as she nibbled at his ear and moved down his jaw line lightly brushing his lips as she finshed the song. Bruce kissed her back, passionately, all his love and need, his desire and his happiness at her pregnancy was all there in that single kiss. He lifted her from his lap and cradled her to their bed and made love to her into the night. And when they woke in the morning, Henry was snuggled between them sound asleep.

_Fin_

A/N: Batman and the White Queen have hung up their costumes, never to be worn again, and settled into domesticity that most of us already live and I don't need to write about. Although probably none of us live it on the billionaire scale. This has been a real a stretch for me as a writer since I know nothing about comics or the cannon or Batman other than what I can glean from long ago movie watching. I'd really appreciate the reviews. CQ


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